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 Totolac it runs 330 km to Totolac; allow about 5 h 45 of riding. It goes by way of Historic Centre of Puebla, Temple and Former Convent of the Assumptio, Temple and Former Convent of Saint John th and Ancient Convent of the Nativity. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,650 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Tlaxcala has an unusual place in Mexican history, because its people were the main allies of Hernán Cortés in the conquest of the Aztec empire. The Tlaxcalans had resisted Aztec expansion for years, and when the Spanish arrived in 1519 they chose to fight with them rather than against them. In return, they received privileges, and the Franciscan friars who arrived soon after chose Tlaxcala as their first base on the mainland. The monastery and its church, begun in the sixteenth century, still stand above the town, a plain, massive building with a fine wooden ceiling in Moorish style.
Read the complete Franciscan Ensemble of the Monastery and C write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Franciscan Ensemble of the Monastery and C is where the day begins. Next is Historic Centre of Puebla.
Puebla was founded in 1531 as a Spanish city from the start, laid out on a grid between the volcanoes and the road from Veracruz to Mexico City, and it grew into one of the richest towns of New Spain. Its historic centre is a World Heritage site, and walking through it you see why: dozens of churches, palaces and mansions, many covered in the hand-painted Talavera tiles for which the city is still famous. The cathedral, with its two tall towers, dominates the main square, and a few blocks away the Rosary Chapel of the church of Santo Domingo is a dazzling space of gilded stucco and carved angels that has to be seen to be believed.
Read the complete Historic Centre of Puebla write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Historic Centre of Puebla comes up about 34 km into the recorded legs. Next is Temple and Former Convent of the Assumptio.
Tochimilco sits high on the southern slopes of Popocatépetl, the great volcano that towers over central Mexico, and on clear mornings the snow-capped cone seems close enough to touch. Here, in the sixteenth century, Franciscan friars built a monastery dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin, one of the early missions established to convert the indigenous population after the Spanish conquest. Its fortress-like church, with thick walls, battlements and a large atrium where crowds once gathered for open-air mass, is part of the UNESCO site of the Earliest Sixteenth-Century Monasteries on the Slopes of Popocatepetl, listed in 1994. In the town square, an old aqueduct and fountain built by the friars still bring water from the mountain.
Read the complete Temple and Former Convent of the Assumptio write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 84 km into the recorded legs you reach Temple and Former Convent of the Assumptio. Next is Temple and Former Convent of Saint John th.
In the 1530s and 1540s, Augustinian friars arrived in the valleys below Popocatépetl to convert the local population, and they built churches that look half like cathedrals and half like castles. The convent of San Juan Bautista in Yecapixtla is one of the finest: a tall, fortress-like church with crenellated walls, a striking Gothic rose window over the entrance and a vast atrium where the indigenous congregation gathered for open-air services. It is part of the UNESCO listing of the Earliest Sixteenth-Century Monasteries on the Slopes of Popocatépetl, a group of fourteen convents across Morelos and Puebla.
Read the complete Temple and Former Convent of Saint John th write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Temple and Former Convent of Saint John th, about halfway. Next is Ancient Convent of the Nativity.
Tepoztlán sits at the foot of a wall of jagged volcanic cliffs in northern Morelos, and on the highest ridge above town, a small Aztec pyramid, the Tepozteco, dedicated to the god of pulque, clings to the rock. Down in the town, the Dominican convent of the Nativity, built in the mid-sixteenth century, is one of the monasteries on the slopes of Popocatépetl listed by UNESCO in 1994. Its massive church, with a facade carved with angels, the sun and the moon, and a large atrium, is impressive, and the cloister has remains of colourful mural paintings. Part of the convent houses a museum.
Read the complete Ancient Convent of the Nativity write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ancient Convent of the Nativity sits at 177 km, about halfway. Next is back through Temple and Former Convent of Saint John th.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Temple and Former Convent of Saint John th write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Temple and Former Convent of Saint John th comes up about 202 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Temple and Former Convent of the Assumptio.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Temple and Former Convent of the Assumptio write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 246 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Temple and Former Convent of the Assumptio. Next is back through Historic Centre of Puebla.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Historic Centre of Puebla write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Historic Centre of Puebla, late in the day. Next is Franciscan Ensemble of the Monastery and C.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Franciscan Ensemble of the Monastery and C write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 330 km.
Franciscan Ensemble of the Monastery and C → Historic Centre of Puebla is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historic Centre of Puebla → Temple and Former Convent of the Assumptio is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Temple and Former Convent of the Assumptio → Temple and Former Convent of Saint John th is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Temple and Former Convent of Saint John th → Ancient Convent of the Nativity is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ancient Convent of the Nativity → back through Temple and Former Convent of Saint John th is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Temple and Former Convent of Saint John th → back through Temple and Former Convent of the Assumptio is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Temple and Former Convent of the Assumptio → back through Historic Centre of Puebla is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Historic Centre of Puebla → Franciscan Ensemble of the Monastery and C is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.