CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
361 km from Contepec to Contepec, about 6 h 00 of riding. It goes by way of Town of Aculco, Historic centre of the city of San Juan de, Historic centre of the city of Querétaro and Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,650 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Every autumn, millions of monarch butterflies fly thousands of kilometres from Canada and the United States to spend the winter in the fir and pine forests of central Mexico. Cerro Altamirano, near the village of Contepec in the state of Michoacán, is one of the mountains where they gather, part of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. When the butterflies are here, roughly from November to March, the branches of the trees are covered with them, so thickly that they sag under the weight.
Read the complete Cerro Altamirano write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cerro Altamirano is where the day begins. Next is Town of Aculco.
Aculco is a quiet stone town in the northwest of the State of Mexico, on the high plateau at well over two thousand metres, where the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the colonial road to the north, passed through on its way from Mexico City. The town was a staging post, and its well-preserved centre, with a broad plaza, the Franciscan church and convent of San Jerónimo and old houses built of pinkish stone, is part of the UNESCO listing for the route. It was here, in November 1810, that royalist troops defeated Miguel Hidalgo's insurgent army, an early setback in the War of Independence that people still mention with a kind of local pride.
Read the complete Town of Aculco write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Town of Aculco comes up 49 km in. Next is Historic centre of the city of San Juan de.
San Juan del Río grew up as a stop on the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the royal road that ran north from Mexico City to the silver mines of Zacatecas and on to Santa Fe in New Mexico, and its historic centre is one of the sites along that route listed by UNESCO in 2010. For centuries, mule trains, wagons and travellers passed through here, stopping at inns and crossing the river on the stone bridge built in the early eighteenth century, which still stands. The centre has plazas, churches, convents and colonial houses of pink and grey stone, and a relaxed provincial atmosphere, despite the city's growth as an industrial centre.
Read the complete Historic centre of the city of San Juan de write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
98 km in you reach Historic centre of the city of San Juan de. 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.
Historic centre of the city of Querétaro, about halfway. Next is Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist.
North of the city of Querétaro, the land rises into dry hills dotted with cactus, mesquite and the remains of old haciendas. These estates were the economic engines of colonial Mexico, producing grain, livestock and pulque for the cities and mines of the north. The chapel of the former Hacienda of Buenavista stands in this landscape near the village of the same name, close to Santa Rosa Jáuregui, and it is part of the UNESCO-listed Camino Real de Tierra Adentro.
Read the complete Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist sits at 195 km, about halfway. Next is back through Historic centre of the city of Querétaro.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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.
back through Historic centre of the city of Querétaro comes up 244 km in. Next is back through Historic centre of the city of San Juan de.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Historic centre of the city of San Juan de write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
293 km in you reach back through Historic centre of the city of San Juan de. Next is back through Town of Aculco.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Town of Aculco write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Town of Aculco, late in the day. Next is Cerro Altamirano.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cerro Altamirano write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 361 km.
Cerro Altamirano → Town of Aculco is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Town of Aculco → Historic centre of the city of San Juan de is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historic centre of the city of San Juan de → Historic centre of the city of Querétaro is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historic centre of the city of Querétaro → Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist → back through Historic centre of the city of Querétaro is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Historic centre of the city of Querétaro → back through Historic centre of the city of San Juan de is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Historic centre of the city of San Juan de → back through Town of Aculco is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Town of Aculco → Cerro Altamirano is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.