CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
271 km from Ojo de Agua to Ojo de Agua, about 4 h 13 of riding. It goes by way of Stretch of the Camino Real between Aculco, Historic centre of the city of Querétaro and back through Stretch of the Camino Real between Aculco. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,600 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Silver came out of the mountains of the north, and everything else came back the other way: wine, cloth, tools, tobacco and soldiers. The Camino Real de Tierra Adentro was the road that carried it all, running from Mexico City to Santa Fe, and it opened in the late sixteenth century and remained in use for roughly three hundred years. It crossed rivers and ravines, and where it did, the Spanish built bridges, a number of which have survived. The bridge of Atongo is one of the stone bridges along the road in the state of Mexico, close to Jilotepec.
Read the complete Bridge of Atongo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Bridge of Atongo is where the day begins. Next is Stretch of the Camino Real between Aculco.
For almost three centuries, wagon trains loaded with silver rolled north and south along the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the royal road that linked Mexico City with the mining towns of the north and eventually with Santa Fe in what is now New Mexico. It was one of the longest trade routes in the Americas, carrying silver, mercury, goods, people and ideas across thousands of kilometres. In 2010 UNESCO listed a series of sites along the route, including stretches of the old road, bridges, haciendas and towns. This section, between Aculco and San Juan del Río, crosses the high plateau on the border between the State of Mexico and Querétaro.
Read the complete Stretch of the Camino Real between Aculco write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Stretch of the Camino Real between Aculco comes up about 60 km into the recorded legs. Next is Historic centre of the city of Querétaro.
Querétaro is the city where Mexico was twice made, once by the Spanish and once by its own lawmakers. In the old centre, the streets run from one small square to the next, each with a baroque church, a fountain and a few trees, and the pace is calmer than in the big cities. The city was founded as an Otomí settlement and became a Spanish colonial town in the sixteenth century, and the historic centre was added to the World Heritage list in 1996 for its mix of baroque architecture and its unusual layout, which blends the regular Spanish grid with the winding lanes of the indigenous quarter.
Read the complete Historic centre of the city of Querétaro write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 135 km into the recorded legs you reach Historic centre of the city of Querétaro. Next is back through Stretch of the Camino Real between Aculco.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Stretch of the Camino Real between Aculco write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Stretch of the Camino Real between Aculco, late in the day. Next is Bridge of Atongo.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bridge of Atongo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Bridge of Atongo. That is the ride.
Bridge of Atongo → Stretch of the Camino Real between Aculco is 60 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Stretch of the Camino Real between Aculco → Historic centre of the city of Querétaro is 75 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Historic centre of the city of Querétaro → back through Stretch of the Camino Real between Aculco is 75 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Stretch of the Camino Real between Aculco → Bridge of Atongo is 62 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.