Nuestra Señora de la Luz de Tancoyol and San Francisco del Valle de Tilaco
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
211 km
Riding-time estimate
4 h 59
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.
On the way it passes Santiago de Jalpan, San Francisco del Valle de Tilaco and back through Santiago de Jalpan. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,600 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Scenic road chapters
Santiago de Jalpan → San Francisco del Valle de Tilaco
The ride follows Santiago de Jalpan → San Francisco del Valle de Tilaco for 48 km.
Chapter facts
Length
48 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Nuestra Señora de la Luz de Tancoyol
Tancoyol is one of the last of the Sierra Gorda missions to be built, and it is perhaps the one that feels most remote. The church of Nuestra Señora de la Luz stands in a small village in the valley of the Santa María river, in the north of Querétaro, with a tall, intricate facade covered with plaster figures, flowers and symbols, a combination of European baroque and the imagination of the Pame people who helped to build it. UNESCO listed the five Sierra Gorda missions together in 2003, and Tancoyol is the quietest of them.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Nuestra Señora de la Luz de Tancoyol is where the day begins. Next is Santiago de Jalpan.
2. Santiago de Jalpan
Fray Junípero Serra, later famous for his missions in California, started his career in the Sierra Gorda, a rugged, forested range in northern Querétaro, and the church at Jalpan is where it began. Built in the mid-eighteenth century by Franciscan friars and the local Pame people, it is the central one of five missions in the region, and the facade is covered with colourful stucco figures of saints, flowers and angels, a mix of baroque tradition and indigenous imagination. UNESCO listed the five missions in 2003.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Santiago de Jalpan comes up about 57 km into the recorded legs. Next is San Francisco del Valle de Tilaco.
3. San Francisco del Valle de Tilaco
In the middle of the eighteenth century, a group of Franciscan friars led by Junipero Serra, later famous for his missions in California, set about building five churches in the Sierra Gorda of Queretaro, one of the roughest, most remote parts of central Mexico. The mission of San Francisco del Valle de Tilaco is one of the five, along with Jalpan, Landa, Concá and Tancoyol, and together they were inscribed as World Heritage in 2003 as the Franciscan Missions in the Sierra Gorda. The church at Tilaco stands in a small village, and its facade is covered with stucco decoration in a style that mixes European baroque with local imagery, with saints, flowers, and symbols that might have been designed by the indigenous workers who built it.