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 438 km round trip from Barumini - roughly 7 h 48 in the saddle. On the way it passes Archaeological Park of Pranu Mutteddu, Necropolis of Mandras, Necropolis of Istevéne and back through Necropolis of Mandras. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Nobody quite knew what lay under the mound outside Barumini until the 1950s, when the archaeologist Giovanni Lilliu, himself a native of the village, began to dig. What emerged was the most complete nuragic complex on Sardinia: a central stone tower built in the Bronze Age, later surrounded by a bastion with four corner towers and an outer wall, and beyond that the remains of a village of round huts. Su Nuraxi was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1997, and it remains the best place on the island to understand the nuragic civilisation, which left thousands of these towers across Sardinia.
Read the complete Su Nuraxi di Barumini write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Su Nuraxi di Barumini is where the day begins. Next is Archaeological Park of Pranu Mutteddu.
The south of Sardinia is not all beaches. Inland, on the edge of the Gerrei hills, lies Pranu Mutteddu, a flat upland of granite, cork oak and scrub that holds one of the island's more striking prehistoric sites. The name means something like the plain of the little stones in Sardinian, and the place is known for its menhirs, standing stones raised several thousand years ago by Neolithic people, many of them still upright and arranged in rows or groups across the clearing.
Read the complete Archaeological Park of Pranu Mutteddu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Archaeological Park of Pranu Mutteddu comes up about 44 km into the recorded legs. Next is Necropolis of Mandras.
Cut into a slope of volcanic rock above the valley of the Tirso, near the village of Ardauli in central Sardinia, the Necropolis of Mandras is a cluster of prehistoric tombs that the Sardinians call domus de janas, houses of the fairies or witches. They were carved out of the rock with stone tools by farming communities, mostly in the late Neolithic, and some of the chambers imitate the inside of a house, with carved beams, doorways and pillars. Folklore said they were built by tiny women who wove gold at night, and in a sense the name says more about how ancient they felt to later generations than any date could.
Read the complete Necropolis of Mandras write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 147 km into the recorded legs you reach Necropolis of Mandras. Next is Necropolis of Istevéne.
In Sardinian folklore, the little rock-cut tombs scattered across the island were the homes of janas, tiny fairies or witches who wove on golden looms and came out at night. Archaeologists call them domus de janas, fairy houses, and date them to the Neolithic and Copper Age, thousands of years before the famous nuraghi towers. The necropolis of Istevéne, near Mamoiada in the heart of the Barbagia, is a group of these chambers cut into the granite, some with carved details imitating the beams and doorways of real houses, and it belongs among the prehistoric Sardinian tombs that have gained UNESCO recognition.
Read the complete Necropolis of Istevéne write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Necropolis of Istevéne, about halfway. Next is back through Necropolis of Mandras.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Necropolis of Mandras write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Necropolis of Mandras sits at 222 km, about halfway. Next is back through Archaeological Park of Pranu Mutteddu.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Archaeological Park of Pranu Mutteddu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Archaeological Park of Pranu Mutteddu comes up about 394 km into the recorded legs. Next is Su Nuraxi di Barumini.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Su Nuraxi di Barumini write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Su Nuraxi di Barumini closes the day.
Su Nuraxi di Barumini → Archaeological Park of Pranu Mutteddu is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Archaeological Park of Pranu Mutteddu → Necropolis of Mandras is 103 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Necropolis of Mandras → Necropolis of Istevéne is 73 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Necropolis of Istevéne → back through Necropolis of Mandras is 71 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Necropolis of Mandras → back through Archaeological Park of Pranu Mutteddu is 103 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Archaeological Park of Pranu Mutteddu → Su Nuraxi di Barumini is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.