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 291 km round trip from Argeles - roughly 5 h 08 in the saddle. On the way it passes Château d’Aguilar, L’enceinte and back through Château d’Aguilar. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,550 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 L’enceinte.
Villefranche-de-Conflent is a whole town inside a wall. Squeezed into the narrow valley of the Têt where it meets a side stream, it was founded in the eleventh century as a stronghold of the Counts of Cerdanya, and after the Treaty of the Pyrenees turned this area French in 1659 it was refortified by Vauban to hold the valley against Spain. The ramparts that give the place its label, l'enceinte, are part of the UNESCO listing of Vauban's fortifications, and you can walk along the covered galleries inside the walls. High above the town on the mountainside sits Fort Liberia, linked to the village by a long underground stairway.
Read the complete L’enceinte write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 146 km into the recorded legs you reach L’enceinte. 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.
Back at Massane. That is the ride.
Massane → Château d’Aguilar is 75 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Château d’Aguilar → L’enceinte is 71 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
L’enceinte → back through Château d’Aguilar is 71 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.