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.
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.
296 km from Elvas to Elvas, about 4 h 43 of riding. On the way it passes Alcantarilla Bridge, Cornalvo Dam, The Roman Circus and Thermal Baths at Alange. It crosses from Portugal into Spain - carry ID and check the toll rules. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 22 km this is Ruta de la Plata, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Elvas is a border town, and borders create walls. The town of Elvas, in the Alentejo, faces Spain across a short stretch of plain, with the Spanish fortress city of Badajoz only seventeen kilometres away, and for centuries the two countries glared at each other from behind stone. Portugal built what became the largest bulwarked dry-ditch fortification system in the world, and in 2012 the Garrison Border Town of Elvas and its Fortifications were inscribed on the World Heritage list. The little Fort of Sao Domingos is one of the smaller pieces in this puzzle, a fortlet set on the edge of the plain that strengthened the defence of the town.
Read the complete Fortlet of São Domingos write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fortlet of São Domingos is where the day begins. Next is Alcantarilla Bridge.
Mérida was founded by the Romans in 25 BC as Augusta Emerita, a city for veterans of the Cantabrian wars, and it grew into the capital of the province of Lusitania. Few places in Spain carry their Roman past so openly. The small Alcantarilla bridge on the edge of town is one piece of the Archaeological Ensemble of Mérida, listed by UNESCO in 1993, and its name, from the Arabic for little bridge, tells you how many hands this landscape has passed through. It is a quiet, unassuming structure, and that is a good reason to start here before you tackle the big sights.
Read the complete Alcantarilla Bridge write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Alcantarilla Bridge comes up 40 km in. Next is Cornalvo Dam.
Nearly two thousand years after Roman engineers built it, the dam at Cornalvo still holds water. It lies in the rolling countryside north-east of Mérida, in Extremadura, and it supplied the Roman city of Augusta Emerita, capital of the province of Lusitania. The dam is an earthen embankment faced with stone, with a tower in the reservoir that controlled the outflow, and it is part of the Archaeological Ensemble of Mérida, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Read the complete Cornalvo Dam write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
At least 87 km in you reach Cornalvo Dam. Next is The Roman Circus.
Mérida was founded in 25 BC as Augusta Emerita, a city for veterans of the Cantabrian Wars, and it grew into the capital of the Roman province of Lusitania. Few places in Spain carry their Roman past so openly. The circus lies on the eastern side of town, a long, flat oval of grass more than four hundred metres from end to end, with the low remains of the central barrier and the seating banks around it. It once held tens of thousands of spectators for chariot races, and though the stands are mostly gone, you can still walk the track and picture the teams thundering around the turning posts.
Read the complete The Roman Circus write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The Roman Circus, about halfway. Next is Thermal Baths at Alange.
The Romans, who were serious about hot water, found a warm spring at Alange in what is now Extremadura and built a bathing complex around it, and the place is still used today. The Roman baths, about twenty kilometres from Mérida, include a domed chamber with stone benches and a pool fed by the spring, and the water comes out pleasantly warm, a gift in a dry country. The baths date from the time when Mérida, then called Emerita Augusta, was one of the great cities of Roman Spain, and wealthy citizens would travel here to relax and be cured.
Read the complete Thermal Baths at Alange write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Thermal Baths at Alange sits at 160 km, about halfway. Next is back through The Roman Circus.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Roman Circus write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through The Roman Circus comes up 200 km in. Next is back through Cornalvo Dam.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cornalvo Dam write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
240 km in you reach back through Cornalvo Dam. Next is back through Alcantarilla Bridge.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Alcantarilla Bridge write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Alcantarilla Bridge, late in the day. Next is Fortlet of São Domingos.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fortlet of São Domingos write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 296 km.
Fortlet of São Domingos → Alcantarilla Bridge is 96 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Alcantarilla Bridge → Cornalvo Dam is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cornalvo Dam → The Roman Circus is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Roman Circus → Thermal Baths at Alange is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Thermal Baths at Alange → back through The Roman Circus is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Roman Circus → back through Cornalvo Dam is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cornalvo Dam → back through Alcantarilla Bridge is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Alcantarilla Bridge → Fortlet of São Domingos is 96 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.