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.
277 km from Ciutat Vella to Ciutat Vella, about 4 h 37 of riding. It goes by way of La Pedra de les Orenetes, Cova dels Segarulls, Cova de Vallmajor and back through Cova dels Segarulls. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
This part of the ride is 36 km of Monserrat Mountain Road.
For about 72 km this is Monserrat Mountain Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it. Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
Antoni Gaudí was in his thirties when Eusebi Güell asked him to build a town house just off the Ramblas, and he gave his patron a palace that looks plain on the street and wild inside. The Palau Güell, built between 1886 and 1890 for the industrialist who became Gaudí's greatest supporter, stands in the Raval, a narrow street in what was then a respectable neighbourhood and is now one of the most multicultural districts of Barcelona. The front has two huge parabolic arches of wrought iron, with a pattern of whiplash lines in the gates, and the interior has a central hall that rises through the building to a dome pierced with small holes, so that on a sunny day the ceiling is spotted with starry light.
Read the complete Palacio Güell write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Palacio Güell is where the day begins. Next is La Pedra de les Orenetes.
La Pedra de les Orenetes, the Swallows' Stone, is a granite boulder in the hills above La Roca del Vallès, and its surface is covered with small carved hollows and other marks left by people in prehistory. Nobody knows exactly what they meant; such engraved rocks are found across Catalonia, and theories range from ritual offerings to maps of the stars. The rock sits among cork oaks and pines in the Serralada Litoral, the coastal range that separates the Vallès plain from the sea, and the walk to reach it is short and pleasant, through scented forest with views over the plain.
Read the complete La Pedra de les Orenetes write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
La Pedra de les Orenetes comes up about 36 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cova dels Segarulls.
The vineyards of the Penedès roll out in every direction from Vilafranca, and the Cova dels Segarulls lies among them, a few kilometres outside the town in the low hills toward the coastal range.
Read the complete Cova dels Segarulls write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 108 km into the recorded legs you reach Cova dels Segarulls. Next is Cova de Vallmajor.
Inland from the Costa Daurada, behind the beach towns of El Vendrell and Calafell, the land rises into the low hills of the Baix Penedès, a landscape of vineyards, almond and olive groves, pine woods and small villages. The Cova de Vallmajor, near Albinyana and Bonastre, is a rock shelter in these hills with prehistoric paintings, part of the Levantine rock art of the Mediterranean that is recognised as a World Heritage Site. The paintings are faint and the shelter is protected, so visits are usually by arrangement.
Read the complete Cova de Vallmajor write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cova de Vallmajor, about halfway. Next is back through Cova dels Segarulls.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cova dels Segarulls write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Cova dels Segarulls sits at 187 km, about halfway. Next is back through La Pedra de les Orenetes.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete La Pedra de les Orenetes write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through La Pedra de les Orenetes comes up about 240 km into the recorded legs. Next is Palacio Güell.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Palacio Güell write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Palacio Güell closes the day.
Palacio Güell → La Pedra de les Orenetes is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
La Pedra de les Orenetes → Cova dels Segarulls is 72 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Cova dels Segarulls → Cova de Vallmajor is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cova de Vallmajor → back through Cova dels Segarulls is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cova dels Segarulls → back through La Pedra de les Orenetes is 73 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through La Pedra de les Orenetes → Palacio Güell is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.