If you stand in the Pinares de Rodeno on a late afternoon, the rock turns the colour of a brick oven and the pine trunks seem to glow against it. The shelter marked here, the Abrigo de las Figuras Diversas, lies in that sandstone forest less than five kilometres from Albarracín, and the name is an archaeologist's one: it simply says that the wall carries a mixed bag of painted figures. Humans, animals and abstract signs share the rock in the manner of the rock art of the Spanish Levant, which UNESCO listed together in 1998.
Rodeno is the key to the whole area. It is a soft red sandstone, a relic of ancient rivers and deserts, which weathers into hollows and sheltered ledges, and for prehistoric people it provided ready-made walls. The Sierra de Albarracín is also one of the few places in Spain where you find them at such height, with the town at around 1,200 metres. That altitude means cool nights even in July, and it means that in the cold months the pinewoods are quiet and white with frost.
Riding in is a pleasure. From Teruel the road climbs through bare steppe farmland, then into forest and finally into the rocky gorge of the Guadalaviar, with the town appearing suddenly above the river like a stage set. The surface is generally good, the bends are medium, and the real hazards are livestock on the road at dawn and tourist cars at noon. A day trip from Teruel in May or September is hard to beat.
Take a little time to wander Albarracín itself. Its alleys are steep and narrow, so leave the bike at the lower car park by the river and walk up past the cathedral and the pink houses to the old wall. Fuel and a full supermarket are twenty-five kilometres away in Teruel, which also has a wonderful set of brick towers built by Muslim craftsmen working for Christian patrons, in what is called the Mudéjar style. In Albarracín itself, look for roast lamb, local cheese and cured ham, and drink plenty of water if you walk to the shelters.