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 230 km round trip from Porto Torres - roughly 4 h 31 in the saddle. It goes by way of Necropolis of Anghelu Ruju, Necropolis of Puttu Codinu, Necropolis of Sant'Andrea Priu and back through Necropolis of Puttu Codinu. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 39 km this is Sardinia Alghero to Bosa Coast Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
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 Necropolis of Anghelu Ruju.
Not far from Alghero, on the flat land behind the coast, lies the largest group of domus de janas in Sardinia. Anghelu Ruju is a necropolis of more than thirty rock-cut tombs, dug into the sandstone with stone tools around five thousand years ago and later reused for burials into the Bronze Age. The site was found in 1903 when workers were preparing land for a vineyard, and excavations revealed chambers with carved bull's horns, false doorways and painted ochre, together with pottery, figurines and personal ornaments now displayed in museums in Sassari and Cagliari. The bull motifs are thought to have been linked to fertility and protection, and they give these dim chambers a surprisingly powerful presence.
Read the complete Necropolis of Anghelu Ruju write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Necropolis of Anghelu Ruju comes up about 32 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 71 km into the recorded legs you reach Necropolis of Puttu Codinu. 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 back through Necropolis of Puttu Codinu.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Necropolis of Puttu Codinu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Necropolis of Puttu Codinu sits at 133 km, about halfway. Next is back through Necropolis of Anghelu Ruju.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Necropolis of Anghelu Ruju write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Necropolis of Anghelu Ruju comes up about 198 km into the recorded legs. 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.
Necropolis of Su Crucifissu Mannu closes the day.
Necropolis of Su Crucifissu Mannu → Necropolis of Anghelu Ruju is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Necropolis of Anghelu Ruju → Necropolis of Puttu Codinu is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Necropolis of Puttu Codinu → Necropolis of Sant'Andrea Priu is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Necropolis of Sant'Andrea Priu → back through Necropolis of Puttu Codinu is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Necropolis of Puttu Codinu → back through Necropolis of Anghelu Ruju is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Necropolis of Anghelu Ruju → Necropolis of Su Crucifissu Mannu is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.