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.
From Gasteiz / Vitoria it runs 316 km to Gasteiz / Vitoria; allow about 4 h 40 of riding. The stops in between: Collégiale de Ziortza, Eglise Santa Maria de la Asuncion and back through Collégiale de Ziortza. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
61 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it — speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through.
For about 85 km this is Basque Coast Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it. Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
Vitoria-Gasteiz is the capital of the Basque Country and possibly its most underrated city. It sits on a high plateau, the Llanada Alavesa, surrounded by low mountains and wide farmland, and its medieval old town climbs a small hill in the shape of an almond, with the old cathedral of Santa María at the top. This is the cathedral the label refers to, a Gothic church begun in the thirteenth century as both a temple and part of the town's defences.
Read the complete Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz is where the day begins. Next is Collégiale de Ziortza.
High on a green hillside above the village of Bolibar, in the Biscayan interior, the collegiate church of Ziortza looks out over a valley of meadows, farmhouses and eucalyptus and pine plantations. It is a tranquil, solid place, a church and cloister built of grey stone with a fortified look, and it stands on the Camino del Norte, the coastal route to Santiago, so you will often see pilgrims resting on the benches outside.
Read the complete Collégiale de Ziortza write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Collégiale de Ziortza comes up about 74 km into the recorded legs. Next is Eglise Santa Maria de la Asuncion.
Castro-Urdiales has one of the best harbour fronts on the whole Cantabrian coast, and it knows it. The Gothic church of Santa María de la Asunción stands on a rocky headland above the old port, its buttresses and pinnacles silhouetted against the sea, flanked by the remains of a castle that now holds a lighthouse and by a medieval bridge leading to a little chapel on a rock. Built from the thirteenth century onward, the church is one of the finest Gothic buildings in northern Spain, and it lies on the coastal route of the Way of Saint James, which is part of a UNESCO listing that covers the pilgrimage roads of the north.
Read the complete Eglise Santa Maria de la Asuncion write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 159 km into the recorded legs you reach Eglise Santa Maria de la Asuncion. Next is back through Collégiale de Ziortza.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Collégiale de Ziortza write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Collégiale de Ziortza, late in the day. Next is Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz. That is the ride.
Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz → Collégiale de Ziortza is 74 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Collégiale de Ziortza → Eglise Santa Maria de la Asuncion is 85 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Eglise Santa Maria de la Asuncion → back through Collégiale de Ziortza is 85 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Collégiale de Ziortza → Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz is 73 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.