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 328 km round trip from Sykiés - roughly 5 h 08 in the saddle. The stops in between: Bronze Age settlement and Cemetery of Tumu, The wider area of Mount Olympus and back through Bronze Age settlement and Cemetery of Tumu. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Thessaloniki has so many Byzantine churches that the city seems to be built on top of them, and the Church of the Prophet Elijah is one of the later ones, dating from the early fourteenth century when the city was still a great centre of art under the Palaiologan emperors. It stands in the upper part of the old town, near Sykiés, a church with a broad central dome on a high drum and alternating courses of stone and brick, the decoration typical of the period. Some of the elements are tall and elegant, giving the building a lightness that surprises in so solid a material.
Read the complete Church of Prophet Elijah write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Church of Prophet Elijah is where the day begins. Next is Bronze Age settlement and Cemetery of Tumu.
Vergina is a small village at the foot of the Pierian mountains in northern Greece, and for most of history nobody outside the region knew its name. That changed in 1977, when the archaeologist Manolis Andronikos opened a great burial mound here and found royal tombs with astonishing grave goods. The site is ancient Aigai, the first capital of the Macedonian kingdom, and one of the tombs is widely attributed to Philip II, father of Alexander the Great. The prehistoric settlement and the large cemetery of burial mounds nearby show that people had been living and burying their dead here for a very long time before the Macedonian kings.
Read the complete Bronze Age settlement and Cemetery of Tumu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Bronze Age settlement and Cemetery of Tumu comes up about 70 km into the recorded legs. Next is The wider area of Mount Olympus.
The gods chose well. Mount Olympus rises almost straight out of the Aegean, from sea level near Litochoro to 2,918 metres at Mytikas, its highest summit, in barely twenty kilometres, so that from the coast road it looks less like a mountain than a wall of grey rock and dark forest with clouds snagged on top. The ancient Greeks put their twelve Olympians up there, and on a stormy afternoon with thunder rolling around the peaks you can see why.
Read the complete The wider area of Mount Olympus write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 163 km into the recorded legs you reach The wider area of Mount Olympus. Next is back through Bronze Age settlement and Cemetery of Tumu.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bronze Age settlement and Cemetery of Tumu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Bronze Age settlement and Cemetery of Tumu, late in the day. Next is Church of Prophet Elijah.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of Prophet Elijah write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Church of Prophet Elijah. That is the ride.
Church of Prophet Elijah → Bronze Age settlement and Cemetery of Tumu is 70 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Bronze Age settlement and Cemetery of Tumu → The wider area of Mount Olympus is 93 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The wider area of Mount Olympus → back through Bronze Age settlement and Cemetery of Tumu is 95 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Bronze Age settlement and Cemetery of Tumu → Church of Prophet Elijah is 70 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.