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 Victoria de Durango it runs 315 km to Victoria de Durango; allow about 6 h 19 of riding. On the way it passes Temples in the town of Nombre de Dios, Sierra de Órganos, Historic ensemble of the city of Sombreret and back through Sierra de Órganos. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,350 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Durango was founded in 1563 by Francisco de Ibarra as the capital of Nueva Vizcaya, a huge northern province that stretched toward the unconquered frontier, and it still has the look of a frontier capital that became rich and then politely stopped. The historic centre is a tidy grid of colonial buildings in pink and yellow stone, with the Plaza de Armas at its core and the great baroque cathedral facing it. Mining money, mostly silver, paid for the arcades, mansions and theatres, and the streets are remarkably free of the clutter you find in larger cities.
Read the complete Historic centre of the city of Durango write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Historic centre of the city of Durango is where the day begins. Next is Temples in the town of Nombre de Dios.
Nombre de Dios is one of the oldest Spanish towns in northern Mexico, founded in the 1560s by Franciscan missionaries and settlers on the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the royal road that ran from Mexico City north to Santa Fe in New Mexico, carrying silver, mercury, supplies and settlers for nearly three hundred years. The road was listed as a World Heritage Site in 2010, along with a string of towns, churches, haciendas and bridges, and the temples of Nombre de Dios are among them, simple churches in stone and adobe that once served as bases for missions to the north.
Read the complete Temples in the town of Nombre de Dios write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Temples in the town of Nombre de Dios comes up about 55 km into the recorded legs. Next is Sierra de Órganos.
Pipes of a giant church organ, frozen in stone: that is what the Spanish saw when they named the Sierra de Órganos, a range of rock formations in the north-west of the state of Zacatecas, near the border with Durango. The columns and pinnacles of volcanic rock rise from the high desert, carved by wind and water into strange shapes, and the area is a national park, protected for its geology and its landscape of grassland, oak and pine.
Read the complete Sierra de Órganos write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 122 km into the recorded legs you reach Sierra de Órganos. Next is Historic ensemble of the city of Sombreret.
Sombrerete is a silver town in the northwest of Zacatecas, founded in the 1550s when Spanish prospectors found rich veins of ore in the hills. The name comes from a hill nearby shaped like a small hat. In the colonial era, Sombrerete's mines produced enormous wealth, and the town grew into an important stop on the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the royal road linking Mexico City with the far north. That wealth built a remarkable collection of churches, convents and mansions, many in the pinkish local stone, and the historic ensemble is part of the UNESCO listing of the Camino Real. The Franciscan convent, the church of Santo Domingo, and the chapel of the Tercera Orden, with its unusual oval plan, are among the highlights. The town has a slightly faded, unhurried atmosphere, far from the tourist crowds of the more famous colonial cities.
Read the complete Historic ensemble of the city of Sombreret write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Historic ensemble of the city of Sombreret, about halfway. Next is back through Sierra de Órganos.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sierra de Órganos write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Sierra de Órganos sits at 218 km, about halfway. Next is back through Temples in the town of Nombre de Dios.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Temples in the town of Nombre de Dios write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Temples in the town of Nombre de Dios comes up about 260 km into the recorded legs. Next is Historic centre of the city of Durango.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Historic centre of the city of Durango write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Historic centre of the city of Durango closes the day.
Historic centre of the city of Durango → Temples in the town of Nombre de Dios is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Temples in the town of Nombre de Dios → Sierra de Órganos is 67 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sierra de Órganos → Historic ensemble of the city of Sombreret is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historic ensemble of the city of Sombreret → back through Sierra de Órganos is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Sierra de Órganos → back through Temples in the town of Nombre de Dios is 68 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Temples in the town of Nombre de Dios → Historic centre of the city of Durango is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.