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 324 km round trip from Argeles - roughly 6 h 40 in the saddle. On the way it passes Château d’Aguilar, Château de Termes, Château et remparts de Carcassonne and back through Château de Termes. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
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 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.
about 109 km into the recorded legs you reach Château de Termes. 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 back through Château de Termes.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Château de Termes write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Château de Termes sits at 178 km, about halfway. 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 comes up about 249 km into the recorded legs. 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.
Massane closes the day.
Massane → Château d’Aguilar is 75 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Château d’Aguilar → Château de Termes is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Château de Termes → Château et remparts de Carcassonne is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Château et remparts de Carcassonne → back through Château de Termes is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Château de Termes → back through Château d’Aguilar is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Château d’Aguilar → Massane is 74 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.