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 268 km round trip from Douar Tindja - roughly 4 h 05 in the saddle. On the way it passes Medina of Tunis, Sector of Bib Knissia Basilica, Zone of the entrance to the harbours and back through Medina of Tunis. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Ichkeul is a lake that behaves like a lung. In winter it fills with fresh water from the rivers of northern Tunisia, and thousands upon thousands of ducks, geese and coots arrive from Europe, making it one of the great wintering grounds on the migration route between the continents. In summer the sea creeps in from Lake Bizerte through a channel, the water turns brackish, and the birds leave. That seesaw between fresh and salt is the heart of the place, and UNESCO listed the national park in 1980 for its importance to waterfowl. The Tunisian state's dams on the feeding rivers have put the balance under strain, which is a story the park authorities have been wrestling with for years.
Read the complete Ichkeul National Park write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ichkeul National Park is where the day begins. Next is Medina of Tunis.
Tunis begins in the narrow lanes. The medina, the old walled city, lies on a low ridge between the salt lake and the Sebkha of Ariana, and the main street runs uphill from the Bab el Bahr, the Sea Gate, towards the Zitouna Mosque, the Mosque of the Olive Tree. The mosque's origins go back to the late seventh century, soon after the Arabs founded Tunis, and the city grew around it. Its great period came under the Hafsid dynasty in the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries, when Tunis was a wealthy capital with libraries, schools and merchants trading across the Mediterranean. Later came the Ottomans and the beys, who added palaces and fountains.
Read the complete Medina of Tunis write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Medina of Tunis comes up about 81 km into the recorded legs. Next is Sector of Bib Knissia Basilica.
Carthage is a name that carries more weight than the site can show, because the Romans did their best to erase it. According to tradition, Phoenician settlers from Tyre founded the city in the ninth century BC, led by Queen Dido, and it grew into a naval and trading power that fought Rome in three wars. Hannibal came from here, the general who crossed the Alps with elephants. In 146 BC Rome destroyed the city after a long siege, and a century later it was refounded as a Roman colony and became one of the great cities of the western Mediterranean. The Vandals took it in 439, the Byzantines in 533, and the Arabs in 698.
Read the complete Sector of Bib Knissia Basilica write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
At least about 99 km into the recorded legs you reach Sector of Bib Knissia Basilica.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Medina of Tunis write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Medina of Tunis, about halfway. Next is Zone of the entrance to the harbours.
Zone of the entrance to the harbours sits at 136 km, about halfway. Next is back through Medina of Tunis.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Medina of Tunis write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Medina of Tunis comes up about 151 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Sector of Bib Knissia Basilica.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sector of Bib Knissia Basilica write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 169 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Sector of Bib Knissia Basilica. Next is back through Medina of Tunis.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Medina of Tunis write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Medina of Tunis, late in the day. Next is Ichkeul National Park.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ichkeul National Park write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 268 km.
Ichkeul National Park → Medina of Tunis is 81 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Medina of Tunis → Sector of Bib Knissia Basilica is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sector of Bib Knissia Basilica → Medina of Tunis is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Medina of Tunis → Zone of the entrance to the harbours is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Zone of the entrance to the harbours → back through Medina of Tunis is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Medina of Tunis → back through Sector of Bib Knissia Basilica is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Sector of Bib Knissia Basilica → back through Medina of Tunis is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Medina of Tunis → Ichkeul National Park is 82 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.