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 197 km round trip from Avignon - roughly 3 h 07 in the saddle. The stops in between: Roman Theatre and its Surroundings and the, Decorated Cave of Pont d’Arc and back through Roman Theatre and its Surroundings and the. The line favours views over speed.
30 km on Historic Centre of Avignon: Papal Palace → Roman Theatre and its Surro.
For most of the fourteenth century, the popes lived in Avignon rather than Rome. In 1309, Pope Clement V, a Frenchman, settled here to escape the turmoil of Italian politics, and his successors built a vast palace, the Palais des Papes, the largest Gothic palace in Europe, with massive walls, towers and halls, more fortress than residence. Seven popes reigned here until 1377, when the papacy returned to Rome, and then rival popes continued to rule from Avignon during the Great Schism. The palace, the cathedral, the ramparts and the famous bridge, the Pont Saint-Bénézet, were listed by UNESCO in 1995.
Read the complete Historic Centre of Avignon: Papal Palace write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Historic Centre of Avignon: Papal Palace is where the day begins. Next is Roman Theatre and its Surroundings and the.
Orange has one of the best Roman theatres still standing anywhere, and what makes it special is the stage wall. It is a tall, plain facade, thirty-seven metres high and more than a hundred metres long, which in most other theatres has fallen or been taken apart for stone. Here it survives, and Louis XIV is supposed to have called it the finest wall in his kingdom. The theatre was built in the first century, under Augustus or soon after, and a statue of the emperor still stands in the central niche. The nearby triumphal arch, on the edge of town, is also Roman and also in good shape. UNESCO listed the theatre and arch together in 1981.
Read the complete Roman Theatre and its Surroundings and the write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Roman Theatre and its Surroundings and the comes up about 30 km into the recorded legs. Next is Decorated Cave of Pont d’Arc.
In December 1994, three cavers felt a draught coming from a pile of rocks above the Ardèche gorge, dug their way in and found themselves in a cave that nobody had entered for thousands of years. On the walls were lions, rhinoceroses, mammoths, horses and bears, drawn with a mastery that changed what we thought we knew about early art. The paintings of the Chauvet cave, named after one of the trio, Jean-Marie Chauvet, are around thirty-six thousand years old, roughly twice the age of Lascaux. The original cave is sealed to protect it, but a full-scale replica, the Grotte Chauvet 2, opened nearby in 2015.
Read the complete Decorated Cave of Pont d’Arc write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 92 km into the recorded legs you reach Decorated Cave of Pont d’Arc. Next is back through Roman Theatre and its Surroundings and the.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Roman Theatre and its Surroundings and the write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Roman Theatre and its Surroundings and the, late in the day. Next is Historic Centre of Avignon: Papal Palace.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Historic Centre of Avignon: Papal Palace write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Historic Centre of Avignon: Papal Palace. That is the ride.
Historic Centre of Avignon: Papal Palace → Roman Theatre and its Surroundings and the is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Roman Theatre and its Surroundings and the → Decorated Cave of Pont d’Arc is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Decorated Cave of Pont d’Arc → back through Roman Theatre and its Surroundings and the is 75 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Roman Theatre and its Surroundings and the → Historic Centre of Avignon: Papal Palace is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.