Why this ride
From Midoun it runs 67 km to Midoun; allow about 1 h 27 of riding. The stops in between: Mosquée El Bessi, Mosquée Berdaoui and back through Mosquée El Bessi. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Zone Temlel and Mosquée Berdaoui
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 67 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 27
- 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 Temlel
Midoun is the second town of Djerba, and Temlel lies just beside it, a rural zone of walled plots, olive trees, palms and whitewashed houses in the east of the island. It is the kind of place that a guidebook would skip, and yet it is exactly what the island's World Heritage listing is about. In 2023 UNESCO recognised Djerba as an outstanding example of how a community lived on an island with no rivers, by dividing the land into small family holdings, each with its well, its cistern, its olive press or oven, and its orchard, grouped in neighbourhoods called houmas, around a mosque and a market.
Read the complete Zone Temlel write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Zone Temlel is where the day begins. Next is Mosquée El Bessi.
2. Mosquée El Bessi
Djerba is an island that Odysseus is supposed to have visited. Homer's lotus-eaters, who fed him and his men a fruit that made them forget home, are traditionally placed here, and it is easy to see how a visitor might think so, with its white houses, palms, olive groves and slow warm air. The island lies off the south-eastern coast of Tunisia in the Gulf of Gabès, flat, sandy and joined to the mainland by a Roman causeway, and it has long been home to a mix of peoples: Berber-speaking Ibadi Muslims, Jews and Arabs. UNESCO listed the island's pattern of settlement in 2023.
Read the complete Mosquée El Bessi write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mosquée El Bessi comes up about 15 km into the recorded legs. Next is Mosquée Berdaoui.
3. Mosquée Berdaoui
The mosques of Djerba are like nothing else in the Muslim world. They are low, white and plain, with thick buttressed walls, small windows and flat or domed roofs, and from a distance they look like fortresses, which is more or less what they were. Djerba is an island off the south of Tunisia, flat and hot, and over the centuries it was raided by pirates and attacked by the Spanish, so its mosques were built to protect worshippers and store supplies. Most belong to the Ibadi school of Islam, a small branch distinct from the Sunni and Shia, which has survived on Djerba and in a few other places in North Africa for over a thousand years.
Read the complete Mosquée Berdaoui write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 33 km into the recorded legs you reach Mosquée Berdaoui. Next is back through Mosquée El Bessi.
4. back through Mosquée El Bessi
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mosquée El Bessi write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Mosquée El Bessi, late in the day. Next is Zone Temlel.
5. Zone Temlel
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Zone Temlel write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Zone Temlel. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Zone Temlel to Mosquée El Bessi
Zone Temlel → Mosquée El Bessi is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mosquée El Bessi to Mosquée Berdaoui
Mosquée El Bessi → Mosquée Berdaoui is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mosquée Berdaoui to back through Mosquée El Bessi
Mosquée Berdaoui → back through Mosquée El Bessi is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Mosquée El Bessi to Zone Temlel
back through Mosquée El Bessi → Zone Temlel is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.