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.
A 500 km round trip from Valletta - roughly 11 h 07 in the saddle. On the way it passes Megalithic Temples of Malta, Scicli, Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto and back through Scicli. It crosses from Malta into Italy - carry ID and check the toll rules. The line favours views over speed.
Valletta is a city drawn with a ruler. After the Great Siege of 1565, when the Knights of St John and the Maltese held out through a summer against the Ottoman fleet, Grand Master Jean de Valette decided to build a fortress city on the narrow peninsula between two deep harbours, and the foundation stone went down in 1566. The streets run in a straight grid, which was unusual for the time, and the steep ones end in steps and views of the sea. Within a couple of generations it was one of the finest baroque cities in Europe, and it is still compact enough to walk end to end in half an hour.
Read the complete City of Valletta write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
City of Valletta is where the day begins. Next is Megalithic Temples of Malta.
Before there were pyramids in Egypt, or Stonehenge on its plain, people on a small Mediterranean island were building enormous stone temples, and some of them are still standing. The group at Ġgantija, on the island of Gozo, goes back to roughly 3600 BC, which makes it among the oldest free-standing monuments in the world. The walls are made of huge limestone blocks, some weighing several tonnes, and they curve into rounded chambers like the lobes of a clover leaf. Local legend said they were built by a giantess, and the name comes from the word for giant.
Read the complete Megalithic Temples of Malta write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Megalithic Temples of Malta comes up 69 km in. Next is Scicli.
In January 1693 an earthquake flattened much of south-eastern Sicily, and the towns that rose from the rubble were rebuilt in a confident, theatrical late baroque style. Scicli is one of the eight towns of the Val di Noto listed by UNESCO for that reason, and it may be the most charming. It sits at the meeting of three limestone gorges, with a rocky hill above crowned by the ruins of the old church of San Matteo, and a centre of honey-coloured churches and palaces whose balconies are held up by carved grotesque faces, horses, sirens and monsters.
Read the complete Scicli write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
138 km in you reach Scicli. Next is Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto.
On 11 January 1693, a catastrophic earthquake struck southeastern Sicily, destroying dozens of towns and killing tens of thousands of people. What happened next is one of the great chapters in the history of town planning. Noto, which stood on a hill some kilometres away, was abandoned, and a new town was built from scratch on a gentler slope, with a grid of streets, grand stairways, churches and palaces, all in the soft, honey-coloured local limestone that glows gold and pink at sunset. Together with seven other towns rebuilt after the earthquake, including Ragusa, Modica and Scicli, Noto was listed by UNESCO in 2002 as the Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto.
Read the complete Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto, about halfway. Next is back through Scicli.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Scicli write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Scicli sits at 276 km, about halfway. Next is back through Megalithic Temples of Malta.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Megalithic Temples of Malta write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Megalithic Temples of Malta comes up 345 km in. Next is City of Valletta.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete City of Valletta write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
City of Valletta closes the day.
City of Valletta → Megalithic Temples of Malta is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Megalithic Temples of Malta → Scicli is 124 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Scicli → Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto → back through Scicli is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Scicli → back through Megalithic Temples of Malta is 124 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Megalithic Temples of Malta → City of Valletta is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.