Why this ride
An 84 km round trip from Valletta - roughly 2 h 31 in the saddle. The stops in between: Skorba, Megalithic Temples of Malta and back through Skorba. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
City of Valletta and Megalithic Temples of Malta
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 84 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 31
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. City of Valletta
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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
City of Valletta is where the day begins. Next is Skorba.
2. Skorba
Under a field near the village of Mġarr, in the north-west of Malta, lie the layers of a farming settlement that is older than the island's famous temples. Skorba was excavated in the 1960s by the archaeologist David Trump, who found the remains of houses from about 4500 BC, built by the island's first farmers, and above them the foundations of two small temples from the later centuries, when Malta's builders began to put up great buildings of stone. It is part of the group of Megalithic Temples of Malta that UNESCO lists as among the oldest free-standing monuments in the world.
Read the complete Skorba write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Skorba comes up about 16 km into the recorded legs. Next is Megalithic Temples of Malta.
3. 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 41 km into the recorded legs you reach Megalithic Temples of Malta. Next is back through Skorba.
4. back through Skorba
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Skorba write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Skorba, late in the day. Next is City of Valletta.
5. City of Valletta
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete City of Valletta write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at City of Valletta. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
City of Valletta to Skorba
City of Valletta → Skorba is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Skorba to Megalithic Temples of Malta
Skorba → Megalithic Temples of Malta is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Megalithic Temples of Malta to back through Skorba
Megalithic Temples of Malta → back through Skorba is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Skorba to City of Valletta
back through Skorba → City of Valletta is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.