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.
From Vielha it runs 385 km to Vielha; allow about 7 h 20 of riding. The stops in between: Cueva de Revilla, Arpán E 2 and back through Cueva de Revilla. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,000 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 72 km this is Pyrenees N260 Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Boí is the lowest and quietest of the Romanesque villages in this Pyrenean valley, and its church of Sant Joan stands among old stone houses a little above the road. It is one of the nine churches in the Vall de Boí listed by UNESCO, and unlike the better-known Taüll it has a quieter, more domestic feel. The nave is plain, the tower is square and slim, and a porch along the side gives the building the look of a country chapel rather than a monument. Painted decoration survives inside, including scenes on the walls, though much of what you see is a careful reproduction while the original fragments are kept in museums in Barcelona and Lleida.
Read the complete Eglésia de Sant Joan de Boí write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Eglésia de Sant Joan de Boí is where the day begins. Next is Cueva de Revilla.
Revilla is one of the most spectacularly placed hamlets in the Spanish Pyrenees, perched on a ledge above the Garganta de Escuaín, a deep gorge cut into the limestone of the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park. It looks down into the canyon from a terrace of meadows, with the high peaks behind. The Cueva de Revilla is a cave in the cliffs near the hamlet, and the area between Bielsa, Plan and Boltaña is some of the wildest country in Aragón.
Read the complete Cueva de Revilla write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cueva de Revilla comes up about 116 km into the recorded legs. Next is Arpán E 2.
The Río Vero is not a big river, but it has spent a very long time doing something clever with the limestone of the Sierra de Guara. Above Alquézar it has cut a gorge that narrows to a few metres in places and widens again into pools the colour of bottle glass, and the plateau on both sides is a dry country of box, holm oak and aromatic scrub that bears almost no relation to the water below. Arpán is a small side-valley three kilometres from the village, a short walk off the road, and its shelter is one of several in the Vero canyon system that carry painted figures from the ancient hunters of the Levantine tradition.
Read the complete Arpán E 2 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 188 km into the recorded legs you reach Arpán E 2. Next is back through Cueva de Revilla.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cueva de Revilla write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Cueva de Revilla, late in the day. Next is Eglésia de Sant Joan de Boí.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Eglésia de Sant Joan de Boí write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Eglésia de Sant Joan de Boí. That is the ride.
Eglésia de Sant Joan de Boí → Cueva de Revilla is 116 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Cueva de Revilla → Arpán E 2 is 72 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Arpán E 2 → back through Cueva de Revilla is 75 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cueva de Revilla → Eglésia de Sant Joan de Boí is 122 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.