Why this ride
A 360 km round trip from Le Bugue - roughly 5 h 08 in the saddle. The stops in between: Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion, Bordeaux and back through Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Roc de Saint-Cirq and Bordeaux
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 360 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 08
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Roc de Saint-Cirq
The Vézère is the river of prehistory, and the valley around Les Eyzies is so crowded with caves, shelters and decorated walls that archaeologists have been working here since the nineteenth century. The limestone cliffs form a long, golden wall above the water, full of overhangs where people lived and painted for tens of thousands of years, and the whole group of sites is on the UNESCO list. The Roc de Saint-Cirq is one of those places, a cliff and shelter close to the small village of Saint-Cirq, set on a bend of the river.
Read the complete Roc de Saint-Cirq write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Roc de Saint-Cirq is where the day begins. Next is Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion.
2. Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion
Saint-Émilion is a wine village that looks like a stage set, with steep, cobbled lanes tumbling down a limestone hillside, golden stone houses, and a bell tower rising above the rooftops. The UNESCO listing covers not just the village but its whole jurisdiction, eight parishes of vineyards around it, recognising a landscape in which vines have been cultivated since Roman times. The village grew around the hermitage of Émilion, a Breton monk who lived in a cave here in the eighth century, and its most remarkable monument is the monolithic church, carved out of the rock beneath the bell tower.
Read the complete Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion comes up about 138 km into the recorded legs. Next is Bordeaux.
3. Bordeaux
Bordeaux makes a confident start or finish to a ride, and you feel it the moment you come along the left bank of the Garonne: a curved river front of honey-coloured eighteenth-century facades that runs for kilometres, the Place de la Bourse at its centre, and the shallow Miroir d'eau in front of it reflecting the whole thing back at the sky. The crescent bend of the river gave the city its old nickname, the Port of the Moon.
Read the complete Bordeaux write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 181 km into the recorded legs you reach Bordeaux. Next is back through Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion.
4. back through Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion, late in the day. Next is Roc de Saint-Cirq.
5. Roc de Saint-Cirq
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Roc de Saint-Cirq write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Roc de Saint-Cirq. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Roc de Saint-Cirq to Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion
Roc de Saint-Cirq → Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion is 138 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion to Bordeaux
Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion → Bordeaux is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bordeaux to back through Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion
Bordeaux → back through Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion to Roc de Saint-Cirq
back through Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion → Roc de Saint-Cirq is 138 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.