Why this ride
A 114 km one-way ride from near Portbou, about 1 h 59 of riding. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,550 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Pyrenees N260 Route: Portbou to Ripoll
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 114 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 59
- Journey
- One way; return travel is separate
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. Portbou
Portbou is a border town in the most literal sense. It is wedged into a steep, rocky cove at the very end of the Costa Brava, a few hundred metres from France, with houses stacked up the hillside and a railway station so oversized that it looks like a cathedral beached by mistake. The station once handled all the rail traffic between Spain and France, where the track gauge changed, and passengers and goods were transferred between trains. Today the town has just fourteen hundred people and feels half-asleep, hushed by the wind and the sea.
Read the complete Portbou write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Portbou is where the day begins. Next is Besalu.
2. Besalu
Besalú arrives suddenly. You come round a bend on the N260 and there it is, a fortified stone bridge with a tower in the middle, seven arches crossing the Fluvià river, and behind it a cluster of tawny roofs and church towers that has hardly changed since the twelfth century. It is one of the best-preserved medieval towns in Catalonia and it is small enough, with only a couple of thousand residents, that you can walk across it in ten minutes. The bridge itself is for walkers only, so you leave the bike on the edge of town and cross on foot, which is how you should see it.
Read the complete Besalu write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Besalu comes up about 62 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ripoll.
3. Ripoll
The Catalan nation, if you believe the story, begins at Ripoll. In the year 879 Count Wilfred the Hairy, called Guifré el Pelós, founded a monastery here at the meeting of two rivers, the Ter and the Freser, and later it became the burial place of the counts of Barcelona. The monastery of Santa Maria still stands in the middle of town, and what draws visitors is its west portal, a huge Romanesque doorway covered in carved stone scenes from the Bible, so detailed that it is often compared to a stone book. Inside the cloister there is a quiet courtyard with two storeys of columns, each with its own carved capital, and you can walk around it in about half an hour.
Read the complete Ripoll write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 114 km.
Leg by leg
Portbou to Besalu
Portbou → Besalu is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Besalu to Ripoll
Besalu → Ripoll is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.