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.
437 km from Argeles to Argeles, about 8 h 54 of riding. The stops in between: Château d’Aguilar, Royal Capetian Fortresses of Languedoc, Château et remparts de Carcassonne and Château de Termes. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 950 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Argelès-sur-Mer is known for its long beach, but the fun is in the hills behind it. The Albères are the eastern end of the Pyrenees, a low, forested range that drops straight into the Mediterranean, and the Massane is its secret. The Forêt de la Massane is a nature reserve of beech trees, some of them centuries old, growing on the cool northern slopes at a height where one would not expect them near the sea. In 2007 it was inscribed by UNESCO as part of the primeval beech forests of Europe, and scientists have studied its dead wood and insects for decades.
Read the complete Massane write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Massane is where the day begins. Next is Château d’Aguilar.
Aguilar is the castle people overlook, and that is its best feature. While coaches crawl up to Peyrepertuse and Quéribus, this one sits quietly on a low hill above vineyards just outside Tuchan, at the eastern edge of the Corbières, with a squat keep inside a hexagonal outer wall studded with small round towers. It is a modest fortress compared with its famous siblings, but you can walk around it in peace and the views over vines towards Mont Tauch are lovely, especially in the evening.
Read the complete Château d’Aguilar write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Château d’Aguilar comes up about 75 km into the recorded legs. Next is Royal Capetian Fortresses of Languedoc.
The Corbières are a rugged knot of hills between Carcassonne and the Pyrenees, covered in garrigue, vineyards and dark oak woods, and dotted with castles that seem to grow out of the rock. After the crusade against the Cathars in the thirteenth century, the French crown took over the region and rebuilt a string of fortresses to guard the border with Aragon: Peyrepertuse, Quéribus, Puilaurens, Termes, Aguilar and the walled city of Carcassonne itself, often called the five sons of Carcassonne.
Read the complete Royal Capetian Fortresses of Languedoc write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 124 km into the recorded legs you reach Royal Capetian Fortresses of Languedoc. Next is Château et remparts de Carcassonne.
Carcassonne has two faces. Down by the river Aude sits the ordinary lower town, a grid of streets laid out in the thirteenth century around a market square, and on the hill above rises the Cité, a double ring of walls and fifty-odd towers that looks like the illustration to a children's book about knights. The Cité was inscribed by UNESCO in 1997, and it is one of the most visited monuments in France, with the nearest sizeable roads and everything a rider needs just a kilometre away in the modern town.
Read the complete Château et remparts de Carcassonne write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Château et remparts de Carcassonne, about halfway. Next is Château de Termes.
In the summer of 1210, Simon de Montfort, leader of the crusade against the Cathars, brought his army to the remote castle of Termes, in the heart of the Corbières, and laid siege to it. The castle's lord, Raymond de Termes, held out for four months, and the defenders only surrendered when their water supply was contaminated and disease broke out, or so the story goes. The castle became a royal fortress, guarding the border with Aragon, and was eventually dismantled in the seventeenth century. Today, its ruins sprawl over a rocky spur above the village, with remains of walls, towers and a chapel, and the views over the wild hills of the Corbières are tremendous.
Read the complete Château de Termes write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Château de Termes sits at 180 km, about halfway. Next is back through Château et remparts de Carcassonne.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Château et remparts de Carcassonne write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Château et remparts de Carcassonne comes up about 271 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Royal Capetian Fortresses of Languedoc.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Royal Capetian Fortresses of Languedoc write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 312 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Royal Capetian Fortresses of Languedoc. Next is back through Château d’Aguilar.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Château d’Aguilar write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Château d’Aguilar, late in the day. Next is Massane.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Massane write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 437 km.
Massane → Château d’Aguilar is 75 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Château d’Aguilar → Royal Capetian Fortresses of Languedoc is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Royal Capetian Fortresses of Languedoc → Château et remparts de Carcassonne is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Château et remparts de Carcassonne → Château de Termes is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Château de Termes → back through Château et remparts de Carcassonne is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Château et remparts de Carcassonne → back through Royal Capetian Fortresses of Languedoc is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Royal Capetian Fortresses of Languedoc → back through Château d’Aguilar is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Château d’Aguilar → Massane is 75 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.