Ontinyent is the kind of Valencian town that does not bother selling itself to tourists, which is part of its charm. It grew rich on textiles, and the old quarter of La Vila, perched above the gorge of the Clariano river, still has a fine bell tower that is among the tallest in the region. The Abric del Gegant, a rock shelter recorded among the prehistoric painted sites of eastern Spain, sits in the hills just outside town towards Bocairent, where the valley narrows and the Serra de Mariola begins to rise.
Bocairent, only a few kilometres away, is worth the detour. The village is piled up on a rocky spur, its streets tumbling down to a ravine, and in the cliffs nearby are the Covetes dels Moros, a honeycomb of man-made windows cut high in the rock whose original purpose nobody has fully explained. The Mariola is also full of old ice houses, the cavas de neu, where snow was packed in winter and sold as ice to the coastal towns in summer. The mountains smell of herbs; this is where local liqueurs and the herbal Herbero come from.
The riding is a big part of the appeal. The CV-81 links Ontinyent with Bocairent and Banyeres in a quick, flowing line, while the smaller roads over the Mariola, towards Agres and Alcoi, and the climb around the Benicadell ridge to the north are tighter, narrower and much more fun. The surfaces vary from silky to crumbling, and in winter the higher bends can be frosty in the morning; this is a cooler inland corner of Valencia, and fog can sit in the valleys. Late spring and early autumn are perfect, with green slopes and warm afternoons.
Practically, it could hardly be easier. Ontinyent is a sizeable town with several petrol stations, supermarkets and plenty of bars where a mid-morning almuerzo of a bocadillo and a coffee costs little and sets you up for hours. Locals swim in summer at the Pou Clar, a series of natural pools in the river gorge just below town, a lovely place to cool off on a hot day. If you are looking for the painted shelter itself, ask locally; access to many of these sites is restricted to protect the figures, and the experience is as much about the country they were painted in as the pigment on the rock.