Montañoz may sound like a village, but as a place name it belongs to a spring and a stretch of hillside south of Nerpio, up where the Segura headwaters break the land into steep slopes. The shelter called Abrigo de la Fuente de Montañoz II is one of many in the district, ten kilometres from Nerpio, and it belongs to the extraordinary group of painted overhangs that make this part of Albacete one of the most important rock art regions in Spain. Some of the paintings around here are in a distinctive style, with stylised human figures, and the UNESCO listing of 1998 covers several.
The very name of the shelter includes a fountain, and that reminds you why people were here. In dry country, a spring is a magnet for animals and so for hunters, and a rock overhang next to a spring is the ideal place for a camp. Take that thought with you when you look at the slope: the shelters are not isolated curiosities but part of a landscape people used for thousands of years, a mosaic of water, shade and game.
The ride from Nerpio is a hill road of the unfussy sort. Corners are broad and the gradient is moderate, the surface is mostly intact, and you pass through pine woods, then bare ridge, then into a hollow of cultivated fields with an old farmhouse or two. Wind comes through the passes, particularly in March, and the temperature can fall five or six degrees in the shade. Winter snow is fairly common, so choose between late spring and early autumn.
You are a long way from large towns here, and the facts should shape your plan. Yeste is almost thirty kilometres away and Segura de la Sierra, a hill village with an Arab castle and a famously photogenic setting, is about the same. The big town in the neighbourhood is Huéscar, thirty-six kilometres off, which has fuel and shops. Start with a full tank, carry water and something to eat, and treat the paintings with respect: no touching and no chalk.