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.
297 km from Elvas to Elvas, about 4 h 49 of riding. On the way it passes Alcantarilla Bridge, Thermal Baths at Alange, Casa Herrera Basilica and back through Thermal Baths at Alange. It crosses from Portugal into Spain - carry ID and check the toll rules. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 26 km this is Ruta de la Plata, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
A fortress the size of a small farm sits on a rise outside Elvas, and it is easy to ride past without noticing it. The Fortlet of Sao Mamede is one of the smaller pieces in the great defensive puzzle of this border town, an outpost on high ground whose job was to hold an approach and make life hard for anyone trying to besiege the main walls. It dates from the seventeenth century, the age of the Portuguese Restoration wars, when the country was fighting for independence from Spain and every hill on the border sprouted earthworks, a time when engineers sketched star-shaped plans from Dutch and Italian pattern books.
Read the complete Fortlet of São Mamede write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fortlet of São Mamede 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 49 km in. 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.
97 km in you reach Thermal Baths at Alange. Next is Casa Herrera Basilica.
Just north of Mérida, among cereal fields and holm oak, lie the quiet remains of the Casa Herrera basilica, an early Christian and Visigothic church that most visitors to the city never see. It is a modest site, low walls and foundations rather than soaring arches, and that is part of its charm. The surrounding countryside is typical of Extremadura: wide, open, lightly farmed, with big skies, storks nesting on pylons and the smell of dry grass and sheep.
Read the complete Casa Herrera Basilica write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Casa Herrera Basilica, about halfway. Next is back through Thermal Baths at Alange.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Thermal Baths at Alange write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Thermal Baths at Alange sits at 194 km, about halfway. 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 comes up 243 km in. Next is Fortlet of São Mamede.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fortlet of São Mamede write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fortlet of São Mamede closes the day.
Fortlet of São Mamede → Alcantarilla Bridge is 93 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Alcantarilla Bridge → Thermal Baths at Alange is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Thermal Baths at Alange → Casa Herrera Basilica is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Casa Herrera Basilica → back through Thermal Baths at Alange is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Thermal Baths at Alange → back through Alcantarilla Bridge is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Alcantarilla Bridge → Fortlet of São Mamede is 93 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.