Why this ride
A 127 km round trip from Erriadh - roughly 3 h 01 in the saddle. It goes by way of Mosquée El Bessi, Zone Temlel, Mosquée Tajdit and Djerba: Testimony to a settlement pattern.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Mosquée Sidi Jmour and Djerba: Testimony to a settlement pattern
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 127 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 01
- 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 Sidi Jmour
Sidi Jmour is a mosque near the north coast of Djerba, in an area of dunes, olive groves and sandy tracks, and it is named, as many Tunisian shrines are, for a holy man. The mosque has the family look of the island's buildings: thick white walls, strong buttresses and a small dome, and it stands in open country, so you see it from a distance, bright against the dark green of the olives. Most mosques on Djerba have a sacred feeling of austere simplicity, and the whitewashed walls reflect the sun in a way that is almost dazzling at midday.
Read the complete Mosquée Sidi Jmour write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mosquée Sidi Jmour is where the day begins. Next is Mosquée El Bessi.
2. 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 comes up about 17 km into the recorded legs. Next is Zone Temlel.
3. 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
about 32 km into the recorded legs you reach Zone Temlel. Next is Mosquée Tajdit.
4. Mosquée Tajdit
Tajdit is an Arabic word meaning renewal, and a mosque with that name usually means one that was rebuilt or enlarged at some point, which suits an island where buildings are whitewashed every year and constantly mended. It is not a place with a famous monument, but a pleasant piece of country that rewards a slow ride.
Read the complete Mosquée Tajdit write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mosquée Tajdit, about halfway. Next is Djerba: Testimony to a settlement pattern.
5. Djerba: Testimony to a settlement pattern
In 2023 UNESCO added Djerba to its World Heritage list under a title that sounds more like a university thesis than a holiday island: Djerba, Testimony to a Settlement Pattern in an Island Territory. What it means in practice is that the island has kept the way people have lived on it for centuries. Instead of one big town, families lived in scattered farms called menzels, each surrounded by its own fields, and villages grew around mosques, markets and cisterns. Rain is scarce here, so water was collected from the roofs and stored in underground tanks, and the layout of the land reflects that.
Read the complete Djerba: Testimony to a settlement pattern write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Djerba: Testimony to a settlement pattern sits at 68 km, about halfway. Next is back through Mosquée Tajdit.
6. back through Mosquée Tajdit
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mosquée Tajdit write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Mosquée Tajdit comes up about 76 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Zone Temlel.
7. 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
about 91 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Zone Temlel. Next is back through Mosquée El Bessi.
8. back through 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 through Mosquée El Bessi, late in the day. Next is Mosquée Sidi Jmour.
9. Mosquée Sidi Jmour
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mosquée Sidi Jmour write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 127 km.
Leg by leg
Mosquée Sidi Jmour to Mosquée El Bessi
Mosquée Sidi Jmour → Mosquée El Bessi is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
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 Tajdit
Zone Temlel → Mosquée Tajdit is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mosquée Tajdit to Djerba: Testimony to a settlement pattern
Mosquée Tajdit → Djerba: Testimony to a settlement pattern is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Djerba: Testimony to a settlement pattern to back through Mosquée Tajdit
Djerba: Testimony to a settlement pattern → back through Mosquée Tajdit is 13 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Mosquée Tajdit to back through Zone Temlel
back through Mosquée Tajdit → back through Zone Temlel is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Zone Temlel to back through Mosquée El Bessi
back through Zone Temlel → back through Mosquée El Bessi is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Mosquée El Bessi to Mosquée Sidi Jmour
back through Mosquée El Bessi → Mosquée Sidi Jmour is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.