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 295 km round trip from Ávila - roughly 4 h 29 in the saddle. On the way it passes Subsidiary building \La Casita del Infante, University and Historic Precinct of Alcalá and back through Subsidiary building \La Casita del Infante. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,350 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 63 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
There is a kind of satisfaction in a city that is exactly what its postcards say, and Ávila is one. The walls are intact, golden at sunset, and the cathedral is built right into them, its apse forming one of the fortress towers, which gives the whole thing the look of a church that has chosen to defend itself. The old town and its churches outside the walls, the extra muros, were recognised by UNESCO in 1985, and most of what makes it special can be seen in a morning.
Read the complete Old Town of Ávila with its Extra-Muros Chu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Old Town of Ávila with its Extra-Muros Chu is where the day begins. 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.
Subsidiary building \La Casita del Infante comes up about 74 km into the recorded legs. Next is University and Historic Precinct of Alcalá.
Alcalá de Henares has a talent for producing writers. Miguel de Cervantes was born here in 1547, and a house museum in the old town commemorates him. The university, founded by Cardinal Cisneros in 1499, was one of the earliest planned university towns in Europe and a model for institutions in the Americas, and its Renaissance and Baroque buildings, with their stone façades and courtyards, are the core of the UNESCO listing that Alcalá received in 1998 for its university and historic precinct. The Paraninfo, the ceremonial hall, is where the Cervantes Prize is presented each year.
Read the complete University and Historic Precinct of Alcalá write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 152 km into the recorded legs you reach University and Historic Precinct of Alcalá. Next is back through Subsidiary building \La Casita del Infante.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Subsidiary building \La Casita del Infante write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Subsidiary building \La Casita del Infante, late in the day. Next is Old Town of Ávila with its Extra-Muros Chu.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Old Town of Ávila with its Extra-Muros Chu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Old Town of Ávila with its Extra-Muros Chu. That is the ride.
Old Town of Ávila with its Extra-Muros Chu → 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 → University and Historic Precinct of Alcalá is 78 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
University and Historic Precinct of Alcalá → back through Subsidiary building \La Casita del Infante is 83 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Subsidiary building \La Casita del Infante → Old Town of Ávila with its Extra-Muros Chu is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.