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.
From Sonico it runs 451 km to Sonico; allow about 8 h 09 of riding. It goes by way of Benedictine Convent of St John at Müstair, Rio delle Foglie and back through Benedictine Convent of St John at Müstair. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,300 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Italy into Switzerland - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. The line favours views over speed.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 91 km this is Stelvio Pass, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
Valcamonica holds one of the largest collections of prehistoric rock carvings in the world, some three hundred thousand figures pecked into the smooth glacier-polished rocks of the valley over thousands of years, from hunters and deer to warriors, ploughs, houses and mysterious symbols. It was the first Italian site to be listed by UNESCO, in 1979. In the upper valley, near Sonico, a few kilometres south of Edolo, a multi-themed park around the rocks of Còren de le Fate, the fairies' rock, offers carvings, nature trails and an insight into the life of the valley.
Read the complete Parco Pluritematico write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Parco Pluritematico is where the day begins. Next is Benedictine Convent of St John at Müstair.
In the high, narrow Val Mustair, at the point where Switzerland meets South Tyrol and the Stelvio national park, there is a Benedictine convent that was founded, according to tradition, by Charlemagne himself around the year 800. Whether or not the emperor's role is exactly as the legend has it, the convent of St John is certainly Carolingian, and it keeps the largest cycle of Carolingian wall paintings anywhere. The figures, painted in the early ninth century, cover the walls of the church in red, yellow and green, in a lively, slightly naive style, with scenes from the life of David and the story of Christ, and later Romanesque frescoes were painted over them in places. UNESCO listed it in 1983.
Read the complete Benedictine Convent of St John at Müstair write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Benedictine Convent of St John at Müstair comes up about 91 km into the recorded legs. Next is Rio delle Foglie.
Rio delle Foglie is the Italian name for the Bletterbach, a gorge that cuts deep into the plateau above the Adige valley, south of Bolzano, near the villages of Aldino and Redagno. It is part of the Dolomites World Heritage Site, inscribed in 2009, and it is one of the best places in the Alps to read the history of the Earth in rock. The stream has carved down through hundreds of metres of layers, from volcanic porphyry at the bottom through red sandstones to the white dolomite of the Corno Bianco at the top, spanning tens of millions of years.
Read the complete Rio delle Foglie write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 226 km into the recorded legs you reach Rio delle Foglie. Next is back through Benedictine Convent of St John at Müstair.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Benedictine Convent of St John at Müstair write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Benedictine Convent of St John at Müstair, late in the day. Next is Parco Pluritematico.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Parco Pluritematico write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Parco Pluritematico. That is the ride.
Parco Pluritematico → Benedictine Convent of St John at Müstair is 91 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Benedictine Convent of St John at Müstair → Rio delle Foglie is 135 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Rio delle Foglie → back through Benedictine Convent of St John at Müstair is 133 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Benedictine Convent of St John at Müstair → Parco Pluritematico is 91 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.