The Sénia is a modest river, but it matters: it marks the boundary between Catalonia and the Valencian Community along the south of Tarragona province, and it runs close to Ulldecona, the town about four and a half kilometres from this shelter. People on both banks speak Catalan, or the Valencian variety of it, and the old territory of the Sénia, with its olive groves and stone farmhouses, feels like one place with a line drawn through it. Abric d'Ermites IV, which the rides also call the Cova Fosca, the Dark Cave, is one of the painted shelters of the Abrics de l'Ermita, on the slopes of the Serra de Godall. The paintings belong to the Levantine tradition, protected by UNESCO as part of the rock art of the Mediterranean basin in Spain. A neighbouring site on the ride is the Roca dels Moros, the Moors' Rock, a name used in several places for old painted walls.
It is a good example of how a place can be strange and ordinary at once. The hillside is a mix of olive terraces, pine woods and low scrub, with a small hermitage among the trees, and from the shelter you can see the plain stretching towards the sea. The painted figures, small and faded, are remnants of hunters who may have had just that view while waiting for deer.
The roads in this corner are a pleasure to ride. From Ulldecona, they curl up into the hills through olive groves in bends of every size, and the surfaces are generally good, with the odd patch of loose stone. Traffic is light apart from August. The Mestral, a cold dry north-westerly, can blow hard through the valleys, and in winter makes the hills feel bleak.
Ulldecona has more than six thousand people and the services that go with it: fuel, bakeries and bars. Alcanar, a coastal town of more than ten thousand, is another option, as is Santa Bárbara, a smaller place to the north. The coast, with its beaches, is only a short ride away if you want a swim after your walk. Carry water and wear sturdy shoes for the final ascent, because the path is stony and exposed to the sun.