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.
218 km from Elvas to Elvas, about 2 h 54 of riding. It goes by way of Alcantarilla Bridge, Thermal Baths at Alange and back through Alcantarilla Bridge. It crosses from Portugal into Spain - carry ID and check the toll rules. The line favours views over speed.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 27 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 about 81 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 108 km into the recorded legs you reach Thermal Baths at Alange. 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 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.
Back at Fortlet of São Mamede. That is the ride.
Fortlet of São Mamede → Alcantarilla Bridge is 81 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Alcantarilla Bridge → Thermal Baths at Alange is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Thermal Baths at Alange → back through Alcantarilla Bridge is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Alcantarilla Bridge → Fortlet of São Mamede is 82 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.