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 69 km round trip from Vielha - roughly 1 h 32 in the saddle. It goes by way of Eglésia de Santa Maria de l'Assumpció, Balma de les Ovelles and back through Eglésia de Santa Maria de l'Assumpció. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,000 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 13 km this is Ruta del Cares · N-260, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
The little Romanesque church of Santa Eulàlia stands at Erill la Vall, one of the villages of the Vall de Boí in the Catalan Pyrenees, and its tall, slim bell tower is a landmark from the road. Together with ten other churches and hermitages in the valley, it was listed by UNESCO in 2000, and the whole group is a small marvel. They were built in the early twelfth century, in a style borrowed from Lombardy, with stout stone walls, round arches and bell towers decorated with blind arcades. Inside, the frescoes that once covered the walls were taken down in the early twentieth century and are now in the museum in Barcelona, while replicas have been placed on site.
Read the complete Eglésia de Santa Eulàlia write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Eglésia de Santa Eulàlia is where the day begins. Next is Eglésia de Santa Maria de l'Assumpció.
Valleys in the high Pyrenees of Catalonia and Aragon are full of small Romanesque churches, and the area around the Alta Ribagorça is among the richest. They were built in the eleventh and twelfth centuries by craftsmen working in what is called the Lombard style, with plain stone walls, round arches and tall, slender bell towers decorated with blind arcades, and they stand in villages that often have only a few houses.
Read the complete Eglésia de Santa Maria de l'Assumpció write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Eglésia de Santa Maria de l'Assumpció comes up about 13 km into the recorded legs. Next is Balma de les Ovelles.
The Balma de les Ovelles, the Sheep's Shelter, lies in the high country where Catalonia meets Aragon, between the valleys of the Noguera Ribagorçana and the Noguera Pallaresa. This is the southern edge of the Pyrenees, a land of limestone ridges, deep gorges, reservoirs and scattered villages, many of them half empty. Rock shelters like this one, used by shepherds and their flocks for thousands of years, are found throughout the region, and some hold traces of prehistoric painting or occupation. The name tells you what it was most recently used for, and the landscape around still carries the sound of sheep bells.
Read the complete Balma de les Ovelles write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 34 km into the recorded legs you reach Balma de les Ovelles. Next is back through Eglésia de Santa Maria de l'Assumpció.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Eglésia de Santa Maria de l'Assumpció write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Eglésia de Santa Maria de l'Assumpció, late in the day. Next is Eglésia de Santa Eulàlia.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Eglésia de Santa Eulàlia write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Eglésia de Santa Eulàlia. That is the ride.
Eglésia de Santa Eulàlia → Eglésia de Santa Maria de l'Assumpció is 13 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Eglésia de Santa Maria de l'Assumpció → Balma de les Ovelles is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Balma de les Ovelles → back through Eglésia de Santa Maria de l'Assumpció is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Eglésia de Santa Maria de l'Assumpció → Eglésia de Santa Eulàlia is 13 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.