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 365 km round trip from Riomaggiore - roughly 7 h 42 in the saddle. On the way it passes Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape, Cathedral and back through Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 900 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 70 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Portovenere is a pastel row of tall houses stacked along the water's edge, their backs forming a kind of sea wall, and at the end of the promontory a black-and-white striped church on a rock. The church of San Pietro, begun in the twelfth century in the Genoese Gothic style, stands on the foundations of an older sanctuary that was supposedly a temple of Venus, the goddess who gave the town its name, and the whole point of the place leans out into the Ligurian Sea. Across a narrow strait lie the islands of Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto, part of the same World Heritage listing that covers the Cinque Terre. Byron is said to have swum across the bay to visit Shelley at Lerici, and a cave below the church carries his name.
Read the complete Portovenere write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Portovenere is where the day begins. Next is Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape.
Gypsum dissolves in water far faster than limestone, and in the upper valley of the Secchia, in the Reggio Emilia Apennines, that simple fact has produced a strange landscape of white cliffs, sinkholes, caves and underground rivers. The Evaporitic Karst and Caves of the Northern Apennines were added to the World Heritage list in 2023, and this area near Castelnovo ne' Monti and Villa Minozzo holds some of the most striking outcrops, ancient Triassic gypsum that glitters in the sun and forms steep walls above the river. Near the Secchia, the springs of Poiano gush out of the rock with a strong flow of slightly salty water, fed by the karst system.
Read the complete Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape comes up about 120 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cathedral.
Modena's cathedral is one of the masterpieces of Romanesque architecture in Europe, and the inscription on its facade still names its makers with pride: the architect Lanfranco and the sculptor Wiligelmo. Work began in 1099 to house the relics of Saint Geminianus, the city's patron, and the result is a building of pale stone, with arcaded galleries, lions supporting the columns of the portal, and carved panels telling the story of Genesis with an expressive power that still surprises. The Ghirlandina, the cathedral's bell tower, leans slightly and rises high above the rooftops, and together with the Piazza Grande they form a UNESCO site.
Read the complete Cathedral write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 182 km into the recorded legs you reach Cathedral. Next is back through Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape, late in the day. Next is Portovenere.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Portovenere write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Portovenere. That is the ride.
Portovenere → Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape is 120 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape → Cathedral is 62 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Cathedral → back through Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape is 62 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape → Portovenere is 121 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.