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.
392 km from San Millán de la Cogolla to San Millán de la Cogolla, about 5 h 31 of riding. On the way it passes Archaeological Site of Atapuerca, Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz and back through Archaeological Site of Atapuerca. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,200 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
In a quiet valley in the foothills of the Sierra de la Demanda, in La Rioja, two monasteries stand one above the other, and between them they tell a story that matters to hundreds of millions of people. The upper monastery, Suso, is small and ancient, built partly into caves on the hillside where the hermit Saint Aemilian, San Millán, lived in the sixth century. The lower monastery, Yuso, is a grand complex of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, sometimes called the Escorial of La Rioja. Together they were listed by UNESCO in 1997, recognised as the birthplace of the written Spanish language.
Read the complete Suso Monastery and Archaeological Sites write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Suso Monastery and Archaeological Sites is where the day begins. Next is Archaeological Site of Atapuerca.
Atapuerca does not look like much from the road: low, scrubby hills, a railway cutting, oaks and gorse. But the limestone caves here have yielded some of the most important remains in the history of humanity. In the Gran Dolina, archaeologists found bones of Homo antecessor, around 850,000 years old, among the oldest human fossils in Western Europe, and in the Sima de los Huesos, a deep pit, they found the remains of at least twenty-eight individuals about 430,000 years old. UNESCO listed the site in 2000.
Read the complete Archaeological Site of Atapuerca write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Archaeological Site of Atapuerca comes up about 74 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz.
Vitoria-Gasteiz is the capital of the Basque Country and possibly its most underrated city. It sits on a high plateau, the Llanada Alavesa, surrounded by low mountains and wide farmland, and its medieval old town climbs a small hill in the shape of an almond, with the old cathedral of Santa María at the top. This is the cathedral the label refers to, a Gothic church begun in the thirteenth century as both a temple and part of the town's defences.
Read the complete Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 195 km into the recorded legs you reach Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz. Next is back through Archaeological Site of Atapuerca.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Archaeological Site of Atapuerca write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Archaeological Site of Atapuerca, late in the day. Next is Suso Monastery and Archaeological Sites.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Suso Monastery and Archaeological Sites write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Suso Monastery and Archaeological Sites. That is the ride.
Suso Monastery and Archaeological Sites → Archaeological Site of Atapuerca is 74 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Archaeological Site of Atapuerca → Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz is 121 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz → back through Archaeological Site of Atapuerca is 120 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Archaeological Site of Atapuerca → Suso Monastery and Archaeological Sites is 78 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.