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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 239 km round trip from Ilha Grande - roughly 4 h 07 in the saddle. It goes by way of Environmental Protection Area of Cairuçu, Paraty and Ilha Grande - Culture and Biodi, Morro da Vila Velha and back through Paraty and Ilha Grande - Culture and Biodi. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 800 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 44 km this is Rio-Santos Highway, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
The southern shore of Ilha Grande, off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state, is one of the few pieces of Brazil's Atlantic coast that is protected as a strict biological reserve, meaning ordinary visits are not allowed. The Praia do Sul reserve was created to guard a long, curved beach backed by a lagoon, a mangrove and a fringe of forest, and it is one of the places where sea turtles come ashore to lay eggs. The island as a whole has no cars, only footpaths, boats and a tradition of fishing villages, and most of its interior is covered in Atlantic forest, which survived because the island had a prison for much of the twentieth century and was kept off limits.
Read the complete Praia do Sul Biological Reserve write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Praia do Sul Biological Reserve is where the day begins. Next is Environmental Protection Area of Cairuçu.
Between the old colonial port of Paraty and the border of São Paulo state, the mountains of the Serra do Mar come down to the sea in a jumble of forested peaks, rocky headlands and small, perfect bays, and the Cairuçu Environmental Protection Area covers much of this coast. It is part of the World Heritage site of Paraty and Ilha Grande, inscribed in 2019 for its combination of cultural and natural values. The forest here is the Mata Atlântica, the Atlantic rainforest, one of the richest and most threatened ecosystems on the planet, home to monkeys, toucans, hummingbirds and countless species of orchids and bromeliads. Within the area lie fishing villages of caiçaras, the traditional coastal people, and settlements of quilombolas, descendants of escaped slaves, as well as Guarani villages.
Read the complete Environmental Protection Area of Cairuçu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Environmental Protection Area of Cairuçu comes up about 46 km into the recorded legs. Next is Paraty and Ilha Grande - Culture and Biodi.
There are few places where a rainforest drops directly into the sea, and the coast between Rio and Santos is one of them. Paraty sits at the edge of a bay, with the mountains of the Serra da Bocaina rising steeply behind and the green islands of the bay scattered in front. The town was founded in the seventeenth century and prospered as the port where gold from the mines of Minas Gerais was shipped to Rio and on to Portugal, brought down the mountain on the Gold Road, the Caminho do Ouro, which you can still walk in places. UNESCO listed Paraty and Ilha Grande in 2019, as a landscape of culture and biodiversity.
Read the complete Paraty and Ilha Grande - Culture and Biodi write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 90 km into the recorded legs you reach Paraty and Ilha Grande - Culture and Biodi. Next is Morro da Vila Velha.
Paraty sits between the mountains and the sea, and Morro da Vila Velha, a hill beside the old town, is a good vantage for seeing why. The mountains of the Serra do Mar rise steeply behind, covered in Atlantic forest, and the bay in front is dotted with islands. Portuguese settlers took the site in the sixteenth century, and in the eighteenth it became the port for gold from Minas Gerais, carried down the Caminho do Ouro on mule trains and loaded onto ships. UNESCO listed Paraty and Ilha Grande together in 2019, recognising both the culture and the nature.
Read the complete Morro da Vila Velha write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Morro da Vila Velha, about halfway. Next is back through Paraty and Ilha Grande - Culture and Biodi.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Paraty and Ilha Grande - Culture and Biodi write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Paraty and Ilha Grande - Culture and Biodi sits at 159 km, about halfway. Next is back through Environmental Protection Area of Cairuçu.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Environmental Protection Area of Cairuçu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Environmental Protection Area of Cairuçu comes up about 192 km into the recorded legs. Next is Praia do Sul Biological Reserve.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Praia do Sul Biological Reserve write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Praia do Sul Biological Reserve closes the day.
Praia do Sul Biological Reserve → Environmental Protection Area of Cairuçu is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Environmental Protection Area of Cairuçu → Paraty and Ilha Grande - Culture and Biodi is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Paraty and Ilha Grande - Culture and Biodi → Morro da Vila Velha is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Morro da Vila Velha → back through Paraty and Ilha Grande - Culture and Biodi is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Paraty and Ilha Grande - Culture and Biodi → back through Environmental Protection Area of Cairuçu is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Environmental Protection Area of Cairuçu → Praia do Sul Biological Reserve is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.