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.
315 km from Contepec to Contepec, about 5 h 51 of riding. It goes by way of Town of Aculco, Stretch of the Camino Real between Aculco, Historic centre of the city of San Juan de and Historic centre of the city of Querétaro. 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 about 46 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 73 km into the recorded legs you reach Stretch of the Camino Real between Aculco. 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.
Historic centre of the city of San Juan de, about halfway. 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 sits at 160 km, about halfway. 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.
back through Historic centre of the city of San Juan de comes up about 223 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 247 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Stretch of the Camino Real between Aculco. 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 315 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 → Stretch of the Camino Real between Aculco is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Stretch of the Camino Real between Aculco → Historic centre of the city of San Juan de is 24 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 → 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 Stretch of the Camino Real between Aculco is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Stretch of the Camino Real between Aculco → back through Town of Aculco is 27 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.