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.
348 km from Rancho Viejo to Rancho Viejo, about 5 h 48 of riding. It goes by way of Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist, Historic Monuments Zone of Querétaro, Historic centre of the city of San Juan de and Town of Aculco. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,650 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
From the outside, the Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco is plain: thick whitewashed walls, a modest bell tower, a dusty plaza in a small village on the dry plateau of Guanajuato. Step inside and every surface erupts in colour. The church was founded in the eighteenth century by the priest Luis Felipe Neri de Alfaro as a place of penitence and spiritual retreat, and its walls and ceilings were covered over decades with murals by the painter Miguel Antonio Martínez de Pocasangre, full of saints, angels, Biblical scenes and verses. People call it the Sistine Chapel of Mexico, and the comparison is less exaggerated than it sounds. It is listed by UNESCO together with the nearby town of San Miguel de Allende.
Read the complete Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco is where the day begins. Next is Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist.
North of the city of Querétaro, the land rises into dry hills dotted with cactus, mesquite and the remains of old haciendas. These estates were the economic engines of colonial Mexico, producing grain, livestock and pulque for the cities and mines of the north. The chapel of the former Hacienda of Buenavista stands in this landscape near the village of the same name, close to Santa Rosa Jáuregui, and it is part of the UNESCO-listed Camino Real de Tierra Adentro.
Read the complete Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist comes up about 49 km into the recorded legs. Next is Historic Monuments Zone of Querétaro.
Santiago de Querétaro's skyline is defined by its aqueduct, seventy-four tall stone arches striding across a valley into the city, built in the early eighteenth century at the expense of the Marqués de la Villa del Villar del Águila to bring fresh water from the hills. Legend says he did it for love of a nun; the more prosaic version says he wanted to improve public health. Either way, it is one of the great engineering works of colonial Mexico, and the view of the arches at dusk, lit up against the sky, is unforgettable.
Read the complete Historic Monuments Zone of Querétaro write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 81 km into the recorded legs you reach Historic Monuments Zone of Querétaro. Next is Historic centre of the city of San Juan de.
San Juan del Río grew up as a stop on the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the royal road that ran north from Mexico City to the silver mines of Zacatecas and on to Santa Fe in New Mexico, and its historic centre is one of the sites along that route listed by UNESCO in 2010. For centuries, mule trains, wagons and travellers passed through here, stopping at inns and crossing the river on the stone bridge built in the early eighteenth century, which still stands. The centre has plazas, churches, convents and colonial houses of pink and grey stone, and a relaxed provincial atmosphere, despite the city's growth as an industrial centre.
Read the complete Historic centre of the city of San Juan de write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Historic centre of the city of San Juan de, about halfway. Next is Town of Aculco.
Aculco is a quiet stone town in the northwest of the State of Mexico, on the high plateau at well over two thousand metres, where the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the colonial road to the north, passed through on its way from Mexico City. The town was a staging post, and its well-preserved centre, with a broad plaza, the Franciscan church and convent of San Jerónimo and old houses built of pinkish stone, is part of the UNESCO listing for the route. It was here, in November 1810, that royalist troops defeated Miguel Hidalgo's insurgent army, an early setback in the War of Independence that people still mention with a kind of local pride.
Read the complete Town of Aculco write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Town of Aculco sits at 203 km, about halfway. Next is back through Historic centre of the city of San Juan de.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Historic centre of the city of San Juan de write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Historic centre of the city of San Juan de comes up about 217 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Historic Monuments Zone of Querétaro.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Historic Monuments Zone of Querétaro write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 269 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Historic Monuments Zone of Querétaro. Next is back through Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist, late in the day. Next is Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 348 km.
Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco → Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist → Historic Monuments Zone of Querétaro is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historic Monuments Zone of Querétaro → Historic centre of the city of San Juan de is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historic centre of the city of San Juan de → Town of Aculco is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Town of Aculco → back through Historic centre of the city of San Juan de is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Historic centre of the city of San Juan de → back through Historic Monuments Zone of Querétaro is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Historic Monuments Zone of Querétaro → back through Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Chapel of the former hacienda of Buenavist → Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.