Why this ride
81 km from Erriadh to Erriadh, about 1 h 49 of riding. It goes by way of Zone Temlel, Mosquée Sidi Yeti and back through Zone Temlel. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Mosquée El Bessi and Mosquée Sidi Yeti
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 81 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 49
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Mosquée El Bessi
Djerba is an island that Odysseus is supposed to have visited. Homer's lotus-eaters, who fed him and his men a fruit that made them forget home, are traditionally placed here, and it is easy to see how a visitor might think so, with its white houses, palms, olive groves and slow warm air. The island lies off the south-eastern coast of Tunisia in the Gulf of Gabès, flat, sandy and joined to the mainland by a Roman causeway, and it has long been home to a mix of peoples: Berber-speaking Ibadi Muslims, Jews and Arabs. UNESCO listed the island's pattern of settlement in 2023.
Read the complete Mosquée El Bessi write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mosquée El Bessi is where the day begins. Next is Zone Temlel.
2. Zone Temlel
Midoun is the second town of Djerba, and Temlel lies just beside it, a rural zone of walled plots, olive trees, palms and whitewashed houses in the east of the island. It is the kind of place that a guidebook would skip, and yet it is exactly what the island's World Heritage listing is about. In 2023 UNESCO recognised Djerba as an outstanding example of how a community lived on an island with no rivers, by dividing the land into small family holdings, each with its well, its cistern, its olive press or oven, and its orchard, grouped in neighbourhoods called houmas, around a mosque and a market.
Read the complete Zone Temlel write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Zone Temlel comes up about 15 km into the recorded legs. Next is Mosquée Sidi Yeti.
3. Mosquée Sidi Yeti
Djerba is the sort of island where you can ride for an hour and never see anything higher than a date palm. The mosque of Sidi Yati sits on the flat interior, a short run from Erriadh, which is the nearest proper town, with Midoun and the capital Houmt Souk a little further out. Everything here is low, white and thick-walled, and the mosques follow the same rule: buttressed, squat, almost fortress-like, with small windows and none of the soaring minarets you might expect from the mainland.
Read the complete Mosquée Sidi Yeti write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 40 km into the recorded legs you reach Mosquée Sidi Yeti. Next is back through Zone Temlel.
4. back through Zone Temlel
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Zone Temlel write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Zone Temlel, late in the day. Next is Mosquée El Bessi.
5. Mosquée El Bessi
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mosquée El Bessi write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Mosquée El Bessi. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Mosquée El Bessi to Zone Temlel
Mosquée El Bessi → Zone Temlel is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Zone Temlel to Mosquée Sidi Yeti
Zone Temlel → Mosquée Sidi Yeti is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mosquée Sidi Yeti to back through Zone Temlel
Mosquée Sidi Yeti → back through Zone Temlel is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Zone Temlel to Mosquée El Bessi
back through Zone Temlel → Mosquée El Bessi is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.