Where Catalonia runs out, the Serra de Godall stands guard over Ulldecona, and in the rock faces under its ridge the oldest residents of the district left their paintings. Ulldecona is the southernmost town in the Tarragona province, a few kilometres from the Valencian border, and the shelters known collectively as Abrics de l'Ermita lie on the hill above the old hermitage. The Levantine paintings here, small and red, are part of the group UNESCO listed in 1998, and they are among the best preserved in Catalonia.
What makes the Ermites shelters special is the quality of the figures. Archers with long legs and tiny waists, animals that look about to bolt, and the sense of a scene being caught rather than composed. Some paintings here are protected by grilles, others by distance, and it is wise to look at the information on site rather than wander off unprepared. Whatever you find, treat the rock as you would a painted ceiling in a museum.
Ulldecona itself is a pleasant working town of about six thousand people, with a castle remnant and a long tradition of olive growing. The oil from this corner of the Montsià is a regional point of pride, and so are the carob trees and almonds that crowd the dry fields. A reservoir lies to the west, and beyond rises the great limestone wall of the Ports de Tortosa-Beseit, a natural park of ridges and goat tracks where you can see Spanish ibex if you are lucky.
For riders the surroundings are a treat. Leave the coast and its motorway behind, and you quickly reach roads that thread between olive terraces and rise toward the Ports with long, readable corners, decent tarmac and almost nobody on them outside weekends. Spring brings wildflowers, autumn smells of crushed grapes and woodsmoke, and summer is best saved for early mornings. The wind can be sharp when the mestral blows down from the north-west.
Ulldecona has several pumps and a good choice of bars and restaurants; this is the place to fill up before heading into the mountains, where villages are small and far apart. Take water and a hat if you walk to the shelters, because shade is scarce.