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.
A 312 km round trip from Colón - roughly 5 h 29 in the saddle. The stops in between: Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Pa, Curundú and back through Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Pa. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
West of the Panama Canal's Caribbean end, the land goes quiet surprisingly fast. You cross from the Colón side on the Atlantic Bridge, the long cable-stayed span that finally replaced the old swing bridge and the ferry over the canal entrance, and within minutes the container cranes give way to rainforest, old American base buildings and a narrow road heading north toward the mouth of the Chagres River.
Read the complete Near Colón write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Camino de Cruces Section 1 is where the day begins. Next is Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Pa.
Columbus named it Puerto Bello, the beautiful harbour, in 1502, and for once a sailor's first impression was right. Portobelo sits on a deep, sheltered bay on Panama's Caribbean coast, backed by steep green hills, and for two centuries it was the point where the wealth of Peru left the New World. Gold and silver came by sea up the Pacific coast to Panama City, crossed the isthmus on mule trails like the Camino de Cruces, and were loaded here onto the Spanish treasure fleets. Every year, a great fair was held, with merchants and soldiers crowding the little port, and prices and diseases both soared.
Read the complete Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Pa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Pa comes up about 58 km into the recorded legs. Next is Camino de Cruces Section 3.
This point lies on the western side of Panama City, in the belt of land that was once the American-run Canal Zone, between the old neighbourhoods of Curundú and Ancón and the green slopes leading towards the canal. Ancón Hill, the forested hump that dominates this part of the city, was for decades the administrative heart of the zone, and the area still has the wide lawns, tidy wooden houses and tropical trees of that era.
Read the complete Near Curundú write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 154 km into the recorded legs you reach Camino de Cruces Section 3. Next is back through Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Pa.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Pa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Pa, late in the day. Next is Camino de Cruces Section 1.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Near Colón write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Camino de Cruces Section 1. That is the ride.
Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Pa → Near Curundú is 96 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Pa → Near Colón is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.