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.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Porto Torres it runs 359 km to Porto Torres; allow about 7 h 18 of riding. On the way it passes Domus de janas of Roccia dell’Elefante, Necropolis of Mesu ‘e Montes, Necropolis of Sant'Andrea Priu and Necropolis of Puttu Codinu. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
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 is where the day begins. 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.
Domus de janas of Roccia dell’Elefante comes up about 32 km into the recorded legs. Next is Necropolis of Mesu ‘e Montes.
Inland from Sassari, the Logudoro is a country of limestone ridges, small towns of honey-coloured stone and fields enclosed by dry walls, and in its folds lies the necropolis of Mesu 'e Montes, near the villages of Ossi, Muros and Florinas. It is a group of domus de janas, the rock-cut tombs of Sardinia's prehistoric farmers, some of them richly decorated with carved pillars, false doors and the stylised bull horns that seem to have been a symbol of protection or power.
Read the complete Necropolis of Mesu ‘e Montes write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 91 km into the recorded legs you reach Necropolis of Mesu ‘e Montes. Next is Necropolis of Sant'Andrea Priu.
Four or five thousand years ago, people on the high plateau of Campo di Santa Lucia in Sardinia carved a whole apartment of rooms into a cliff of soft volcanic rock, to house their dead. The Sardinians call these rock-cut tombs domus de janas, houses of the fairies, and Sant'Andrea Priu, near Bonorva, has some of the most remarkable. The largest, known as the Tomba del Capo, has a series of chambers whose walls and ceilings imitate the beams and pillars of a real house. Centuries later, in the early Christian and Byzantine period, it was converted into a church and its walls were painted with frescoes, some of which survive.
Read the complete Necropolis of Sant'Andrea Priu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Necropolis of Sant'Andrea Priu, about halfway. Next is Necropolis of Puttu Codinu.
Domus de janas means houses of the fairies, and that is what Sardinians called the small chambers cut into rock faces across the island, believing them to be the homes of tiny supernatural women. They are in fact tombs, carved out by the island's Neolithic and Copper Age people some five thousand years ago, often with rooms arranged like houses, carved doorways, false roof beams and symbols such as bulls' horns. The necropolis of Puttu Codinu, near Villanova Monteleone in north-west Sardinia, is a group of these tombs cut into a low limestone outcrop amid fields and scrub, one of thousands across the island.
Read the complete Necropolis of Puttu Codinu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Necropolis of Puttu Codinu sits at 158 km, about halfway. Next is back through Necropolis of Sant'Andrea Priu.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Necropolis of Sant'Andrea Priu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Necropolis of Sant'Andrea Priu comes up about 224 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Necropolis of Mesu ‘e Montes.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Necropolis of Mesu ‘e Montes write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 270 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Necropolis of Mesu ‘e Montes. 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, late in the day. Next is 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.
The route ends here after 359 km.
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 Mesu ‘e Montes is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Necropolis of Mesu ‘e Montes → Necropolis of Sant'Andrea Priu is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Necropolis of Sant'Andrea Priu → Necropolis of Puttu Codinu is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Necropolis of Puttu Codinu → back through Necropolis of Sant'Andrea Priu is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Necropolis of Sant'Andrea Priu → back through Necropolis of Mesu ‘e Montes is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Necropolis of Mesu ‘e Montes → back through Domus de janas of Roccia dell’Elefante is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Domus de janas of Roccia dell’Elefante → Necropolis of Su Crucifissu Mannu is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.