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 298 km round trip from Haro - roughly 5 h 31 in the saddle. On the way it passes Suso Monastery and Archaeological Sites, Archaeological Site of Atapuerca, Burgos Cathedral and back through Burgos Cathedral. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,200 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
For about 36 km this is La Rioja Wine Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it — expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
21 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it. Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through.
Every year on the morning of 29 June, the people of Haro climb a hill outside town and drench each other in red wine, and nobody has ever satisfactorily explained to me why this needs to happen at nine in the morning. The Batalla del Vino is the loudest expression of a town that lives and breathes wine. Haro is the heart of Rioja Alta, and just outside it the old stone bridge at Briñas crosses the Ebro, a medieval structure of solid arches that has carried travellers, mule trains and wine carts across the river for centuries.
Read the complete Pont de Briñas sur le Fleuve Ebro write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Pont de Briñas sur le Fleuve Ebro is where the day begins. Next is Suso Monastery and Archaeological Sites.
In a quiet valley in the foothills of the Sierra de la Demanda, in La Rioja, two monasteries stand one above the other, and between them they tell a story that matters to hundreds of millions of people. The upper monastery, Suso, is small and ancient, built partly into caves on the hillside where the hermit Saint Aemilian, San Millán, lived in the sixth century. The lower monastery, Yuso, is a grand complex of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, sometimes called the Escorial of La Rioja. Together they were listed by UNESCO in 1997, recognised as the birthplace of the written Spanish language.
Read the complete Suso Monastery and Archaeological Sites write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Suso Monastery and Archaeological Sites comes up about 36 km into the recorded legs. Next is Archaeological Site of Atapuerca.
Atapuerca does not look like much from the road: low, scrubby hills, a railway cutting, oaks and gorse. But the limestone caves here have yielded some of the most important remains in the history of humanity. In the Gran Dolina, archaeologists found bones of Homo antecessor, around 850,000 years old, among the oldest human fossils in Western Europe, and in the Sima de los Huesos, a deep pit, they found the remains of at least twenty-eight individuals about 430,000 years old. UNESCO listed the site in 2000.
Read the complete Archaeological Site of Atapuerca write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
At least about 110 km into the recorded legs you reach Archaeological Site of Atapuerca. Next is Burgos Cathedral.
Burgos Cathedral took its time. Work began in 1221 under Bishop Mauricio and King Fernando III, and the building grew in stages for three centuries, which is why it contains a French-inspired Gothic nave, a Renaissance golden staircase by Diego de Siloé, a Constable's chapel of astonishing complexity and, above the crossing, an octagonal lantern whose star-vault, rebuilt in the sixteenth century, is a masterpiece of Renaissance ornament. The two openwork spires of the façade were added in the fifteenth century by a craftsman from Cologne, Johann, and they give the building its unmistakable outline. UNESCO listed the cathedral in 1984, one of the first Spanish sites to be added.
Read the complete Burgos Cathedral write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Burgos Cathedral, about halfway. Next is Archaeological Site of Atapuerca.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Archaeological Site of Atapuerca write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Archaeological Site of Atapuerca sits at 153 km, about halfway. Next is back through Burgos Cathedral.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Burgos Cathedral write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Burgos Cathedral comes up about 167 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Archaeological Site of Atapuerca.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Archaeological Site of Atapuerca write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 185 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Archaeological Site of Atapuerca. Next is back through Suso Monastery and Archaeological Sites.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Suso Monastery and Archaeological Sites write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Suso Monastery and Archaeological Sites, late in the day. Next is Pont de Briñas sur le Fleuve Ebro.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Pont de Briñas sur le Fleuve Ebro write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 298 km.
Pont de Briñas sur le Fleuve Ebro → Suso Monastery and Archaeological Sites is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Suso Monastery and Archaeological Sites → Archaeological Site of Atapuerca is 74 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Archaeological Site of Atapuerca → Burgos Cathedral is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Burgos Cathedral → Archaeological Site of Atapuerca is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Archaeological Site of Atapuerca → back through Burgos Cathedral is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Burgos Cathedral → back through Archaeological Site of Atapuerca is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Archaeological Site of Atapuerca → back through Suso Monastery and Archaeological Sites is 78 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Suso Monastery and Archaeological Sites → Pont de Briñas sur le Fleuve Ebro is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.