CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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.
It goes by way of Morro da Vila Velha, Praia do Sul Biological Reserve and back through Morro da Vila Velha. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 800 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 29 km this is Rio-Santos Highway, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
The Serra da Bocaina is the green wall that rises behind the coast between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, the high end of the Serra do Mar, and the national park that covers it protects one of the largest surviving patches of Atlantic forest. Rain from the ocean falls on the slopes almost daily, and the result is a dense, dripping jungle of tree ferns, bromeliads, orchids and enormous trees, with waterfalls and rivers running down to the sea. Clouds sit on the ridge, and the air smells of wet leaves and earth.
Read the complete Serra da Bocaina National Park write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Serra da Bocaina National Park is where the day begins. 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 comes up 44 km in. Next is Praia do Sul Biological Reserve.
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.
88 km in you reach Praia do Sul Biological Reserve. Next is back through Morro da Vila Velha.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Morro da Vila Velha write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Morro da Vila Velha, late in the day. Next is Serra da Bocaina National Park.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Serra da Bocaina National Park write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Serra da Bocaina National Park. That is the ride.
Serra da Bocaina National Park → Morro da Vila Velha is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Morro da Vila Velha → Praia do Sul Biological Reserve is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Praia do Sul Biological Reserve → back through Morro da Vila Velha is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Morro da Vila Velha → Serra da Bocaina National Park is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.