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.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From San Millán de la Cogolla it runs 449 km to San Millán de la Cogolla; allow about 7 h 51 of riding. The stops in between: Pont de Briñas sur le Fleuve Ebro, Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz, Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian and Ekain. 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.
For 39 km this is La Rioja Wine Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it — expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
44 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it. Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through.
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 Pont de Briñas sur le Fleuve Ebro.
Every year on the morning of 29 June, the people of Haro climb a hill outside town and drench each other in red wine, and nobody has ever satisfactorily explained to me why this needs to happen at nine in the morning. The Batalla del Vino is the loudest expression of a town that lives and breathes wine. Haro is the heart of Rioja Alta, and just outside it the old stone bridge at Briñas crosses the Ebro, a medieval structure of solid arches that has carried travellers, mule trains and wine carts across the river for centuries.
Read the complete Pont de Briñas sur le Fleuve Ebro write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Pont de Briñas sur le Fleuve Ebro comes up 42 km in. 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.
85 km in you reach Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz. Next is Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian.
Imagine a mountain with a hole through it, and a medieval road running straight through the hole. The tunnel of San Adrián is a natural cave passage near the crest of the Aizkorri range, on the border of Gipuzkoa and Álava, and for centuries it carried one of the main routes between the Castilian plateau and the Basque coast. Pilgrims on the inland Camino de Santiago, merchants, armies and kings all passed through it, and a small chapel was built inside the cave. The old paved road leading up to it survives in sections, worn smooth by centuries of hooves and boots.
Read the complete Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian, about halfway. Next is Ekain.
In 1969 two young men exploring a hillside above the Sastarrain valley near Zestoa crawled into a narrow opening and found themselves in a gallery of painted horses. Ekain is one of the finest Palaeolithic painted caves in Europe, its walls covered with images of horses, bison and other animals made some fourteen thousand years ago with remarkable skill. The horses in particular are famous, drawn with shaggy manes and round bellies, so lively that they seem about to move.
Read the complete Ekain write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ekain sits at 169 km, about halfway. Next is back through Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian comes up 211 km in. Next is back through Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
254 km in you reach back through Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz. Next is back through Pont de Briñas sur le Fleuve Ebro.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Pont de Briñas sur le Fleuve Ebro write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Pont de Briñas sur le Fleuve Ebro, 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.
The route ends here after 449 km.
Suso Monastery and Archaeological Sites → Pont de Briñas sur le Fleuve Ebro is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pont de Briñas sur le Fleuve Ebro → Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz → Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian → Ekain is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ekain → back through Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Chaussée et Tunnel de San Adrian → back through Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cathedrale de Vitoria-Gasteiz → back through Pont de Briñas sur le Fleuve Ebro is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Pont de Briñas sur le Fleuve Ebro → Suso Monastery and Archaeological Sites is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.