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 393 km round trip from Guanajuato - roughly 6 h 53 in the saddle. It goes by way of Bridge La Quemada, Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco, Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist and back through Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,250 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Guanajuato sits at the bottom of a steep, narrow ravine in the central Mexican highlands, at around two thousand metres, and the colour of the city is the first surprise. Houses in ochre, rose, turquoise and yellow climb the hillsides in tiers, with domes and bell towers rising among them, and the streets twist in all directions. The city grew rich from silver, with mines such as La Valenciana, which in the eighteenth century produced a large share of the world's supply, and the wealth paid for baroque churches, mansions and theatres. UNESCO listed the historic town and the silver mines in 1988.
Read the complete Historic centre of the city of Guanajuato write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Historic centre of the city of Guanajuato is where the day begins. Next is Bridge La Quemada.
The silver of Guanajuato came with a price, and the price was a war. In the middle of the sixteenth century, as the Spanish pushed north and the roads began to carry wagons of ore, the Chichimeca peoples of this high plateau resisted, and for several decades attacks on convoys made the journey dangerous. The Spanish answered with forts, called presidios, along the road, and with settlements of Indian allies, and the old road, the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, grew up as a fortified corridor.
Read the complete Bridge La Quemada write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Bridge La Quemada comes up about 84 km into the recorded legs. Next is Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco.
From the outside, the Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco is plain: thick whitewashed walls, a modest bell tower, a dusty plaza in a small village on the dry plateau of Guanajuato. Step inside and every surface erupts in colour. The church was founded in the eighteenth century by the priest Luis Felipe Neri de Alfaro as a place of penitence and spiritual retreat, and its walls and ceilings were covered over decades with murals by the painter Miguel Antonio Martínez de Pocasangre, full of saints, angels, Biblical scenes and verses. People call it the Sistine Chapel of Mexico, and the comparison is less exaggerated than it sounds. It is listed by UNESCO together with the nearby town of San Miguel de Allende.
Read the complete Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 147 km into the recorded legs you reach Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco. Next is Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist.
North of the city of Querétaro, the land rises into dry hills dotted with cactus, mesquite and the remains of old haciendas. These estates were the economic engines of colonial Mexico, producing grain, livestock and pulque for the cities and mines of the north. The chapel of the former Hacienda of Buenavista stands in this landscape near the village of the same name, close to Santa Rosa Jáuregui, and it is part of the UNESCO-listed Camino Real de Tierra Adentro.
Read the complete Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist, about halfway. Next is back through Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco sits at 226 km, about halfway. Next is back through Bridge La Quemada.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bridge La Quemada write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Bridge La Quemada comes up about 306 km into the recorded legs. Next is Historic centre of the city of Guanajuato.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Historic centre of the city of Guanajuato write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Historic centre of the city of Guanajuato closes the day.
Historic centre of the city of Guanajuato → Bridge La Quemada is 84 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bridge La Quemada → Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco → Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist → back through Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco → back through Bridge La Quemada is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Bridge La Quemada → Historic centre of the city of Guanajuato is 88 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.