High above the Segura headwaters, the village of Nerpio feels more like a mountain outpost than part of southern Spain. It lies on the edge of the Sierra de Alcaraz and the Sierra de Segura, well over a thousand metres up, and the climate is the sort that sends locals indoors in January and has snow arriving early. The Abrigo de la Cornisa belongs to a cluster of painted shelters in the district, and the Nerpio area as a whole is known for having one of the richest groups of rock paintings in the country.
The paintings here were made in several waves, with older Levantine figures and later schematic signs, so a single cliff can carry images created thousands of years apart. The name of the shelter says it all: it is a cornice, an overhang in the rock wall, which protected pigments from rain for centuries. Visits are best arranged locally because the sites are sensitive, and the track in is often a walking path rather than a road.
The riding is the real prize. From Nerpio the roads fall away to the Taibilla river and climb through pine forest to open plateaus, with long views of pale mountains and very little traffic. Surfaces are patchy where the local councils have little to spend, so ride as if there might be gravel in every bend, which sometimes there is. Fuel is thin on the ground. Yeste to the north is the nearest place with something at all, while Moratalla, farther south and bigger at about eight and a half thousand people, is where you can be sure of a tank and a lunch. Do not leave Nerpio with a low light on the dash.
Autumn is when the area shows off, with oaks and poplars along the river turning gold against dark pine. Spring is fresh and green. Summer is bearable at this altitude, but the shadeless slopes still bake by afternoon, so start early and keep water on the bike. Nights are cold, even in July, if you are camping.