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 326 km round trip from Putifigari - roughly 6 h 00 in the saddle. The stops in between: Necropolis of Su Crucifissu Mannu, Domus de janas of Roccia dell’Elefante, Necropolis of Sos Furrighesos and back through Domus de janas of Roccia dell’Elefante. The line favours views over speed.
Sardinia is covered in small rock-cut tombs called domus de janas, the houses of the fairies, or of the witches depending on who tells the story. They were carved into soft rock by the island's Neolithic and Copper Age communities, more than five thousand years ago, and there are thousands of them, from single chambers to complex underground houses for the dead. The necropolis of Monte Siseri, near the village of Putifigari in the hills behind Alghero, includes the tomb known as S'Incantu, the enchantment, one of the most elaborate on the island. Its chambers imitate the interior of a house, with carved details such as roof beams, pillars and doorways, and traces of red and black paint that once decorated the walls. The domus de janas have recently joined the UNESCO World Heritage list, a long-overdue recognition of Sardinian prehistory.
Read the complete Necropolis of Monte Siseri/S'Incantu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Necropolis of Monte Siseri/S'Incantu is where the day begins. Next is Necropolis of Su Crucifissu Mannu.
Sardinians call them domus de janas, houses of the fairies, and when you crouch at the entrance of one you understand the name. They are tombs cut straight into the soft limestone by the island's Neolithic and Copper Age people, small chambers linked by low doorways, sometimes with carved false doors or bull horns on the walls. The necropolis of Su Crucifissu Mannu, just inland from Porto Torres, holds a couple of dozen of them scattered across a low rocky plateau among fields and scrub, one of the largest groups in the north of the island.
Read the complete Necropolis of Su Crucifissu Mannu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Necropolis of Su Crucifissu Mannu comes up about 33 km into the recorded legs. Next is Domus de janas of Roccia dell’Elefante.
On the side of the main road below Castelsardo, in northern Sardinia, a huge reddish rock stands alone at a bend, and it really does look like an elephant, trunk lowered, as if about to drink. It is a block of volcanic trachyte that broke away from the hills above and was sculpted by wind and rain into its strange shape. What most passing drivers miss is that its base was used long before anyone thought of elephants: two prehistoric tombs, domus de janas, were cut into the rock in the Neolithic period, and in one of them carved horn shapes, the symbol of the bull, can still be made out.
Read the complete Domus de janas of Roccia dell’Elefante write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 65 km into the recorded legs you reach Domus de janas of Roccia dell’Elefante. Next is Necropolis of Sos Furrighesos.
In the Goceano hills of north-central Sardinia, a low cliff of pale volcanic rock above the village of Anela hides one of the island's more striking prehistoric cemeteries. Sos Furrighesos is a cluster of domus de janas, the rock-cut tombs whose Sardinian name means houses of the fairies, carved into the face of the stone by Neolithic farmers some five thousand years ago. Some of the chambers are simple niches; others open into several rooms, and a few still carry carved reliefs of bull horns, a symbol you meet again and again in Sardinian prehistory.
Read the complete Necropolis of Sos Furrighesos write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Necropolis of Sos Furrighesos, about halfway. Next is back through Domus de janas of Roccia dell’Elefante.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Domus de janas of Roccia dell’Elefante write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Domus de janas of Roccia dell’Elefante sits at 178 km, about halfway. Next is back through Necropolis of Su Crucifissu Mannu.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Necropolis of Su Crucifissu Mannu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Necropolis of Su Crucifissu Mannu comes up about 293 km into the recorded legs. Next is Necropolis of Monte Siseri/S'Incantu.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Necropolis of Monte Siseri/S'Incantu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Necropolis of Monte Siseri/S'Incantu closes the day.
Necropolis of Monte Siseri/S'Incantu → Necropolis of Su Crucifissu Mannu is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Necropolis of Su Crucifissu Mannu → Domus de janas of Roccia dell’Elefante is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Domus de janas of Roccia dell’Elefante → Necropolis of Sos Furrighesos is 95 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Necropolis of Sos Furrighesos → back through Domus de janas of Roccia dell’Elefante is 96 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Domus de janas of Roccia dell’Elefante → back through Necropolis of Su Crucifissu Mannu is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Necropolis of Su Crucifissu Mannu → Necropolis of Monte Siseri/S'Incantu is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.