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 361 km round trip from Salamanca - roughly 4 h 28 in the saddle. The stops in between: Hermitage of San Segundo, Subsidiary building \La Casita del Infante and back through Hermitage of San Segundo. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,350 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
UNESCO listed the old city of Salamanca in 1988, and it is easy to see why. Within a compact area on a low hill above the river Tormes, there are two cathedrals joined together, a university founded in 1218 by King Alfonso IX of León, a magnificent baroque square and an astonishing number of convents, palaces and colleges, all built in the same golden sandstone. Salamanca's university is the oldest in Spain, and in its golden age in the sixteenth century it was one of the great centres of learning in Europe, where Columbus's ideas were once debated and where scholars argued about law, theology and the rights of the peoples of the New World.
Read the complete Old City of Salamanca write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Old City of Salamanca is where the day begins. Next is Hermitage of San Segundo.
Outside the great medieval walls of Ávila, down by the river Adaja, a small Romanesque church stands among trees, quiet and often overlooked by the crowds heading for the walls and the cathedral. The Hermitage of San Segundo is dedicated to the first bishop of Ávila, according to tradition one of seven early missionaries sent to Spain, and it holds an alabaster statue of the saint at prayer, carved in the sixteenth century by the sculptor Juan de Juni. The building itself is simple and austere, with a beautiful carved doorway, and it is a lovely, peaceful place to visit. It is part of the UNESCO listing of the Old Town of Ávila with its Extra-Muros Churches.
Read the complete Hermitage of San Segundo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hermitage of San Segundo comes up about 106 km into the recorded legs. Next is Subsidiary building \La Casita del Infante.
Most people who come to San Lorenzo de El Escorial only see the monastery, that vast granite grid Philip II raised in the second half of the sixteenth century as palace, basilica, library and royal tomb all at once. A short walk below it, through terraced gardens and woodland, sits something far more human in scale. The Casita del Infante, also called the Casita de Arriba, was designed by Juan de Villanueva in the late eighteenth century for the Infante Gabriel, a son of Carlos III, as a place to retreat, play music and escape the endless etiquette of court. Its sibling, the Casita del Príncipe, lies down the hill near the town of El Escorial and was built for the future Carlos IV.
Read the complete Subsidiary building \La Casita del Infante write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 180 km into the recorded legs you reach Subsidiary building \La Casita del Infante. Next is back through Hermitage of San Segundo.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hermitage of San Segundo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Hermitage of San Segundo, late in the day. Next is Old City of Salamanca.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Old City of Salamanca write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Old City of Salamanca. That is the ride.
Old City of Salamanca → Hermitage of San Segundo is 106 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Hermitage of San Segundo → Subsidiary building \La Casita del Infante is 74 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Subsidiary building \La Casita del Infante → back through Hermitage of San Segundo is 75 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hermitage of San Segundo → Old City of Salamanca is 106 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.