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.
350 km from Villaperuccio to Villaperuccio, about 6 h 18 of riding. On the way it passes Su Nuraxi di Barumini, Archaeological Park of Pranu Mutteddu, back through Archaeological Park of Pranu Mutteddu and back through Su Nuraxi di Barumini. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
The Sulcis, in the south-west of Sardinia, is a landscape of cork oaks, bare hills and old mines, and Montessu lies in a quiet corner of it. The necropolis here is a cliff of pale trachyte rock, pierced by dozens of small chambers cut out by hand more than five thousand years ago. The Sardinians call such tombs domus de janas, houses of the fairies, and the name suits them: little rooms with doorways, ceilings and carved details like beams and, in a few, the spiral and horned symbols of a religion we only half understand. The site is managed locally, and opening arrangements vary, so check before you go.
Read the complete Necropolis of Montessu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Necropolis of Montessu is where the day begins. Next is Su Nuraxi di Barumini.
Nobody quite knew what lay under the mound outside Barumini until the 1950s, when the archaeologist Giovanni Lilliu, himself a native of the village, began to dig. What emerged was the most complete nuragic complex on Sardinia: a central stone tower built in the Bronze Age, later surrounded by a bastion with four corner towers and an outer wall, and beyond that the remains of a village of round huts. Su Nuraxi was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1997, and it remains the best place on the island to understand the nuragic civilisation, which left thousands of these towers across Sardinia.
Read the complete Su Nuraxi di Barumini write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Su Nuraxi di Barumini comes up about 86 km into the recorded legs. Next is Archaeological Park of Pranu Mutteddu.
The south of Sardinia is not all beaches. Inland, on the edge of the Gerrei hills, lies Pranu Mutteddu, a flat upland of granite, cork oak and scrub that holds one of the island's more striking prehistoric sites. The name means something like the plain of the little stones in Sardinian, and the place is known for its menhirs, standing stones raised several thousand years ago by Neolithic people, many of them still upright and arranged in rows or groups across the clearing.
Read the complete Archaeological Park of Pranu Mutteddu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 130 km into the recorded legs you reach Archaeological Park of Pranu Mutteddu.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Su Nuraxi di Barumini write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Su Nuraxi di Barumini, about halfway. Next is back through Archaeological Park of Pranu Mutteddu.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Archaeological Park of Pranu Mutteddu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Archaeological Park of Pranu Mutteddu sits at 227 km, about halfway. Next is back through Su Nuraxi di Barumini.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Su Nuraxi di Barumini write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Su Nuraxi di Barumini comes up about 264 km into the recorded legs. Next is Necropolis of Montessu.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Necropolis of Montessu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Necropolis of Montessu closes the day.
Necropolis of Montessu → Su Nuraxi di Barumini is 86 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Su Nuraxi di Barumini → Archaeological Park of Pranu Mutteddu is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Archaeological Park of Pranu Mutteddu → Su Nuraxi di Barumini is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Su Nuraxi di Barumini → back through Archaeological Park of Pranu Mutteddu is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Archaeological Park of Pranu Mutteddu → back through Su Nuraxi di Barumini is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Su Nuraxi di Barumini → Necropolis of Montessu is 86 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.