Why this ride
215 km from Tarragona to Tarragona, about 3 h 23 of riding. It goes by way of Triumphal Arch of Berá, Abric de Can Castellvi, Crypt at the Colònia Güell and back through Abric de Can Castellvi. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The Amphitheatre and Crypt at the Colònia Güell
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 215 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 23
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. The Amphitheatre
Seen from the sea, Tarragona seems to be built on a cliff, and the Roman amphitheatre was put where the cliff meets the beach, so that spectators could look out over the water. It lies less than a kilometre from the city's centre, between the old town and the sand of Miracle beach, and it is one of the best-preserved Roman arenas in Spain. Tàrraco was the capital of a vast province, Hispania Tarraconensis, and the empire's governors, soldiers and tax officials spent years here, so the buildings were meant to be impressive.
Read the complete The Amphitheatre write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Amphitheatre is where the day begins. Next is Triumphal Arch of Berá.
2. Triumphal Arch of Berá
For centuries traffic on the main coastal road of Catalonia drove straight through a Roman triumphal arch. The Arc de Berà stands on the line of the Via Augusta, the great Roman road from the Pyrenees to Cádiz, about twenty kilometres northeast of Tarragona, and until the road was diverted around it in the late twentieth century, cars and trucks passed under its single span. It was built at the end of the first century BC, and an inscription records that it was erected according to the will of Lucius Licinius Sura, a figure whose identity historians still discuss. It is part of the UNESCO listing for the Roman remains of Tarraco.
Read the complete Triumphal Arch of Berá write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Triumphal Arch of Berá comes up 32 km in. Next is Abric de Can Castellvi.
3. Abric de Can Castellví
The Penedès is wine country, and the landscape around Vilafranca del Penedès is a patchwork of vineyards rolling away toward the Montserrat massif in the north and the limestone hills of the Garraf in the south. Abric de Can Castellví is a small rock shelter in this landscape, one of the many sites of Levantine and schematic rock art scattered across Catalonia and included in the UNESCO serial site of the rock art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula. Like many such sites, it is modest in appearance, a hollow in the rock where faint painted figures have survived thousands of years, and access is often limited to protect the art.
Read the complete Abric de Can Castellvi write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
64 km in you reach Abric de Can Castellvi. Next is Crypt at the Colònia Güell.
4. Crypt at the Colònia Güell
Few people ride out of Barcelona expecting to find Gaudí in a mill village, but that is exactly what waits at Santa Coloma de Cervelló, a short hop up the Llobregat from Sant Boi. The Colònia Güell was a textile colony founded by the industrialist Eusebi Güell, who moved his cotton works out of the city in the 1890s and built housing, a school, shops and a theatre for the workers around the factory. He asked his friend Antoni Gaudí for a church. Gaudí spent about ten years on the design and its foundations, and when money and the Güell family's enthusiasm ran out around 1914, only the lower level had been finished. That crypt is what you come to see.
Read the complete Crypt at the Colònia Güell write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Crypt at the Colònia Güell, about halfway. Next is back through Abric de Can Castellvi.
5. back through Abric de Can Castellvi
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abric de Can Castellvi write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Abric de Can Castellvi sits at 128 km, about halfway. Next is back through Triumphal Arch of Berá.
6. back through Triumphal Arch of Berá
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Triumphal Arch of Berá write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Triumphal Arch of Berá comes up 160 km in. Next is The Amphitheatre.
7. The Amphitheatre
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Amphitheatre write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Amphitheatre closes the day.
Leg by leg
The Amphitheatre to Triumphal Arch of Berá
The Amphitheatre → Triumphal Arch of Berá is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Triumphal Arch of Berá to Abric de Can Castellvi
Triumphal Arch of Berá → Abric de Can Castellvi is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abric de Can Castellví to Crypt at the Colònia Güell
Abric de Can Castellví → Crypt at the Colònia Güell is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Crypt at the Colònia Güell to back through Abric de Can Castellvi
Crypt at the Colònia Güell → back through Abric de Can Castellvi is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abric de Can Castellvi to back through Triumphal Arch of Berá
back through Abric de Can Castellvi → back through Triumphal Arch of Berá is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Triumphal Arch of Berá to The Amphitheatre
back through Triumphal Arch of Berá → The Amphitheatre is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.