Why this ride
70 km from Erriadh to Erriadh, about 1 h 42 of riding. On the way it passes Zone Côtière inhabitée, Mosquée Imghar and back through Zone Côtière inhabitée. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Zone Hara Sghira and Mosquée Imghar
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 70 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 42
- 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Zone Hara Sghira
Hara Sghira means the little quarter, and for centuries it was the name of the Jewish village on Djerba's north coast, a few minutes from Houmt El Souk across flat olive and palm country. Today the modern town around it is called Erriadh, and it has two reputations. One is religious: the El Ghriba synagogue, which locals will tell you is the oldest in Africa, draws pilgrims every spring for a festival of candles and song, and visitors go through security checks at the gate, which is a sign of the troubled recent history rather than anything to be nervous about. The other is artistic, for in 2014 well over a hundred artists from dozens of countries covered the whitewashed walls of the village with murals, and the project, called Djerbahood, turned a sleepy street grid into an open-air gallery.
Read the complete Zone Hara Sghira write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Zone Hara Sghira is where the day begins. Next is Zone Côtière inhabitée.
2. Zone Côtière inhabitée
Most of Djerba is cultivated, and then the cultivation stops. On the island's northern shore, where the olive groves and palm gardens run out, a strip of shallow sea, salt flat, sand and scrub stretches along the coast with hardly a building on it, and this is the uninhabited coastal zone that the island's heritage listing includes in its protected landscape. In 2023, UNESCO recognised Djerba for the way its people shaped a territory without rivers or springs, and the empty shore is part of that story, because it shows what the settlers started with and what they chose to leave alone.
Read the complete Zone Côtière inhabitée write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Zone Côtière inhabitée comes up about 18 km into the recorded legs. Next is Mosquée Imghar.
3. Mosquée Imghar
Djerba's mosques look like small fortresses, which is more or less what they once were. Imghar, in the interior of the island, is one of the group of Ibadi mosques whose whitewashed walls, thick buttresses and low domes give them the air of a farmhouse that has been trained for war. Ibadism is a branch of Islam that predates the Sunni-Shia split, and it survives today mainly in Oman, parts of North Africa and here on Djerba, where it has shaped the island's culture for over a thousand years.
Read the complete Mosquée Imghar write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 35 km into the recorded legs you reach Mosquée Imghar. Next is back through Zone Côtière inhabitée.
4. back through Zone Côtière inhabitée
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Zone Côtière inhabitée write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Zone Côtière inhabitée, late in the day. Next is Zone Hara Sghira.
5. Zone Hara Sghira
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Zone Hara Sghira write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Zone Hara Sghira. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Zone Hara Sghira to Zone Côtière inhabitée
Zone Hara Sghira → Zone Côtière inhabitée is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Zone Côtière inhabitée to Mosquée Imghar
Zone Côtière inhabitée → Mosquée Imghar is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mosquée Imghar to back through Zone Côtière inhabitée
Mosquée Imghar → back through Zone Côtière inhabitée is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Zone Côtière inhabitée to Zone Hara Sghira
back through Zone Côtière inhabitée → Zone Hara Sghira is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.