Torre e iglesia parroquial de San Pablo and Cañada de marco starting at Zaragoza
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
339 km
Riding-time estimate
5 h 05
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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 339 km round trip from Zaragoza - roughly 6 h in the saddle. On the way it passes Iglesia de Santa María, Abside, Cañada de marco and back through Abside. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,150 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Torre e iglesia parroquial de San Pablo
The leaning towers of Aragon are a familiar sight in Teruel, but in Zaragoza the Mudéjar masterpiece is the tower of San Pablo, an octagonal brick shaft rising above the roofs of the Gancho district, west of the old centre. It is part of the Mudéjar Architecture of Aragon, a UNESCO listing that groups together churches, towers and ceilings built by Muslim craftsmen working for Christian patrons between the twelfth and the seventeenth centuries. The brick is the point. Aragon has little good building stone, and the masons made a virtue of necessity by laying bricks in patterns of lozenges and arches that look like lace.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Torre e iglesia parroquial de San Pablo is where the day begins. Next is Iglesia de Santa María.
2. Iglesia de Santa María
Somewhere in the folds of the Sierra de Algairén, south-west of Zaragoza, a bell tower pokes up above a cluster of ochre roofs, and that is your Iglesia de Santa María. Half the villages of Aragon have a church of that name, and this one does the job the others do: it marks the middle of a small place where the shop, the bar and the plaza all orbit the same square of stone. The nearest neighbours on the map are Cosuenda, Almonacid de la Sierra and Alpartir, each a few hundred souls, each about nine kilometres off.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Iglesia de Santa María comes up about 72 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abside.
3. Abside
The apse in question belongs to the collegiate church of Santa María in Calatayud, and it is one of the reasons UNESCO lists the Mudéjar architecture of Aragon as a whole. Mudéjar means the building style of Muslim craftsmen living under Christian rule after the reconquest, and in Calatayud they did wonderful things with humble brick: geometric patterns, lozenges and interlacing arches laid out in relief, glazed tiles catching the sun. Next to the apse rises an octagonal brick tower that is the town's signature, and behind it a cloister, all three named in the listing.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 107 km into the recorded legs you reach Abside. Next is Cañada de marco.
4. Cañada de marco
Calamocha has a reputation in Spain, and it is not for its nightlife. This town in the Jiloca valley of Teruel province is one of the coldest places in the country in winter, a high, open basin where the air pools at night and frost bites hard. In summer that same altitude makes it pleasant when the coast is sweltering. The Cañada de Marco is a site in the hills just outside town, and the name hints at the old drove roads, the cañadas, that once carried flocks of sheep across Aragon between summer and winter pastures.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Torre e iglesia parroquial de San Pablo closes the day.
Leg by leg
Torre e iglesia parroquial de San Pablo to Iglesia de Santa María
Torre e iglesia parroquial de San Pablo → Iglesia de Santa María is 72 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Iglesia de Santa María to Abside
Iglesia de Santa María → Abside is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abside to Cañada de marco
Abside → Cañada de marco is 60 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Cañada de marco to back through Abside
Cañada de marco → back through Abside is 65 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Abside to back through Iglesia de Santa María
back through Abside → back through Iglesia de Santa María is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Iglesia de Santa María to Torre e iglesia parroquial de San Pablo
back through Iglesia de Santa María → Torre e iglesia parroquial de San Pablo is 73 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.