Why this ride
A 68 km round trip from Erriadh - roughly 1 h 33 in the saddle. The stops in between: Zone Côtière inhabitée, Mosquée Tlakine and back through Zone Côtière inhabitée. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Mosquée Welhi and Mosquée Tlakine
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 68 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 33
- 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 Welhi
The little mosques of Djerba look like fortresses that have turned to prayer. Whitewashed, with thick sloping buttresses, small domes and short squat minarets, they stand among olive groves and date palms across this flat Tunisian island, and they belong to a particular faith, the Ibadi branch of Islam, whose followers settled here in the early centuries after the Arab conquest and developed a distinctive local tradition.
Read the complete Mosquée Welhi write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mosquée Welhi is where the day begins. Next is Zone Côtière inhabitée.
2. Zone Côtière inhabitée
Most of Djerba is cultivated, and then the cultivation stops. On the island's northern shore, where the olive groves and palm gardens run out, a strip of shallow sea, salt flat, sand and scrub stretches along the coast with hardly a building on it, and this is the uninhabited coastal zone that the island's heritage listing includes in its protected landscape. In 2023, UNESCO recognised Djerba for the way its people shaped a territory without rivers or springs, and the empty shore is part of that story, because it shows what the settlers started with and what they chose to leave alone.
Read the complete Zone Côtière inhabitée write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Zone Côtière inhabitée comes up about 14 km into the recorded legs. Next is Mosquée Tlakine.
3. Mosquée Tlakine
Djerba is covered in small mosques, hundreds of them, and the visitor who sets out to find the quiet ones soon realises that you cannot ride more than a few kilometres without passing a whitewashed dome. Tlakine is one of those village mosques on the island's interior, set among olive and palm plantations between Houmt El Souk and the villages to the east. Most Djerbian mosques belong to the Ibadi tradition, a distinctive branch of Islam that survives in only a few places, including Oman, Djerba and parts of the Mzab in Algeria. The island's Ibadi community took refuge here when persecuted elsewhere, and built mosques that look more like fortresses than places of worship.
Read the complete Mosquée Tlakine write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 34 km into the recorded legs you reach Mosquée Tlakine. Next is back through Zone Côtière inhabitée.
4. back through Zone Côtière inhabitée
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Zone Côtière inhabitée write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Zone Côtière inhabitée, late in the day. Next is Mosquée Welhi.
5. Mosquée Welhi
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mosquée Welhi write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Mosquée Welhi. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Mosquée Welhi to Zone Côtière inhabitée
Mosquée Welhi → Zone Côtière inhabitée is 14 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Zone Côtière inhabitée to Mosquée Tlakine
Zone Côtière inhabitée → Mosquée Tlakine is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mosquée Tlakine to back through Zone Côtière inhabitée
Mosquée Tlakine → back through Zone Côtière inhabitée is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Zone Côtière inhabitée to Mosquée Welhi
back through Zone Côtière inhabitée → Mosquée Welhi is 14 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.