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.
309 km from Victoria de Durango to Victoria de Durango, about 6 h 28 of riding. The stops in between: Temples in the town of Nombre de Dios, Sierra de Órganos, Temple of San Pantaleón Mártir in the Town 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 Temple of San Pantaleón Mártir in the Town.
San Martín is a small farming town on the high plateau of western Zacatecas, a dozen or so kilometres from the old mining city of Sombrerete, and at its heart stands a colonial church dedicated to San Pantaleón Mártir. The building, with a sturdy stone facade, a bell tower and a cool, simple interior, is one of the sites listed as part of the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the colonial road that ran north from Mexico City through the silver country to New Mexico. Churches like this one marked the stopping places along the route, and they served the small communities of farmers, muleteers and miners who lived in this harsh, beautiful landscape.
Read the complete Temple of San Pantaleón Mártir in the Town write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Temple of San Pantaleón Mártir in the Town, 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 202 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 253 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 → Temple of San Pantaleón Mártir in the Town is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Temple of San Pantaleón Mártir in the Town → back through Sierra de Órganos is 32 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 67 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.