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.
A 235 km round trip from Roda de Barà - roughly 4 h 42 in the saddle. The stops in between: Roman walls, Abric de la Serra de la mussara, Albi II / Balma dels Punts and back through Abric de la Serra de la mussara. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Triumphal Arch of Berá is where the day begins. Next is Roman walls.
The Romans did not take long to decide that Tarragona was worth fortifying. Scipio's army landed here in 218 BC during the war against Carthage, and in time the settlement of Tarraco became the capital of the Roman province of Hispania Citerior and later of Tarraconensis, and one of the largest cities in Roman Spain. Its walls started as a Republican fortification, with huge irregular blocks at the base, the so-called cyclopean masonry, which were later heightened and rebuilt in Roman and later periods. A good stretch survives in the Passeig Arqueològic, where you can walk along the top.
Read the complete Roman walls write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Roman walls comes up about 24 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abric de la Serra de la mussara.
Climb out of Reus on a clear morning and the Serra de la Mussara rises ahead like a wall, a limestone escarpment that holds up the edge of the Prades plateau and drops steeply to the plain of the Camp de Tarragona. The rock shelters along this cliff line, close to the village of Vilaplana, are part of the prehistoric painted landscape of eastern Spain. The best reason to stop, though, is the view: on a good day you look straight down over hazelnut orchards and olive groves to Reus, Tarragona and the sea.
Read the complete Abric de la Serra de la mussara write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 65 km into the recorded legs you reach Abric de la Serra de la mussara. Next is Albi II / Balma dels Punts.
L'Albi is a small village on a hill in Les Garrigues, the dry, olive-covered district southeast of Lleida, and its name appears in the archaeological record thanks to rock shelters in the area, including the Balma dels Punts, the shelter of the dots. The name suggests schematic paintings in the form of dots and lines, typical of the later phase of prehistoric art in the region, and the site is part of the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean rock art. The shelters are small and fragile, and some can only be visited with a guide, so check with the town hall or a local interpretation centre before heading out.
Read the complete Albi II / Balma dels Punts write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Albi II / Balma dels Punts, about halfway. Next is back through Abric de la Serra de la mussara.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abric de la Serra de la mussara write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Abric de la Serra de la mussara sits at 121 km, about halfway. Next is back through Roman walls.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Roman walls write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Roman walls comes up about 212 km into the recorded legs. Next is Triumphal Arch of Berá.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Triumphal Arch of Berá write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Triumphal Arch of Berá closes the day.
Triumphal Arch of Berá → Roman walls is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Roman walls → Abric de la Serra de la mussara is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abric de la Serra de la mussara → Albi II / Balma dels Punts is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Albi II / Balma dels Punts → back through Abric de la Serra de la mussara is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abric de la Serra de la mussara → back through Roman walls is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Roman walls → Triumphal Arch of Berá is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.