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.
From Mérida it runs 431 km to Mérida; allow about 5 h 48 of riding. The stops in between: Old Town of Cáceres, Royal Monastery of Santa María de Guadalup and back through Old Town of Cáceres. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 84 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
The Temple of Diana is the best-looking ruin in Mérida, and it is not really a temple of Diana. Archaeologists now believe it was dedicated to the worship of the emperor, built in the first century on the municipal forum, but the name stuck from an old guess and nobody has bothered to change it. Of the original structure, a rectangular building raised on a platform, the front porch of tall granite columns still stands, with their Corinthian capitals gazing out over the roofs. They are surprisingly slender, and from the right angle they seem to hold up nothing but a very fine blue sky.
Read the complete Temple of Diana write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Temple of Diana is where the day begins. Next is Old Town of Cáceres.
Cáceres has an old town so complete that film crews treat it as a ready-made set, and walking its streets at dusk, when the stone glows amber and the crowds have gone, you can see why. Inside the walls, built largely by the Almohads in the twelfth century, are dozens of fortified mansions, towers, churches and palaces, many built by noble families who made their fortunes in the conquest of the Americas. The towers once had battlements, but Queen Isabella ordered most of them cut down to curb the nobles' power. UNESCO listed the old town in 1986.
Read the complete Old Town of Cáceres write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Old Town of Cáceres comes up about 79 km into the recorded legs. Next is Royal Monastery of Santa María de Guadalup.
about 216 km into the recorded legs you reach Royal Monastery of Santa María de Guadalup. Next is back through Old Town of Cáceres.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Old Town of Cáceres write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Old Town of Cáceres, late in the day. Next is Temple of Diana.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Temple of Diana write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Temple of Diana. That is the ride.
Temple of Diana → Old Town of Cáceres is 79 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Old Town of Cáceres → Royal Monastery of Santa María de Guadalup is 137 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Royal Monastery of Santa María de Guadalup → back through Old Town of Cáceres is 138 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Old Town of Cáceres → Temple of Diana is 77 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.