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 Guanajuato it runs 456 km to Guanajuato; allow about 7 h 51 of riding. On the way it passes Bridge La Quemada, Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco, Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist and Historic Monuments Zone of Querétaro. 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 Historic Monuments Zone of Querétaro.
Santiago de Querétaro's skyline is defined by its aqueduct, seventy-four tall stone arches striding across a valley into the city, built in the early eighteenth century at the expense of the Marqués de la Villa del Villar del Águila to bring fresh water from the hills. Legend says he did it for love of a nun; the more prosaic version says he wanted to improve public health. Either way, it is one of the great engineering works of colonial Mexico, and the view of the arches at dusk, lit up against the sky, is unforgettable.
Read the complete Historic Monuments Zone of Querétaro write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Historic Monuments Zone of Querétaro sits at 205 km, about halfway. Next is back through Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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.
back through Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist comes up about 259 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 308 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco. 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, late in the day. 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.
The route ends here after 456 km.
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 → Historic Monuments Zone of Querétaro is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historic Monuments Zone of Querétaro → back through Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through 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.