Paridera is a shepherd's word: a stone pen where ewes give birth, sheltered from the wind. Above Tormón, a tiny village in the southern Sierra de Albarracín, one such overhang has given its name to a rock shelter with prehistoric paintings, the Abrigo de la Paridera, part of the Levantine rock art sites the Iberian Peninsula shares under one UNESCO listing. The cliff here is rodeno, the red sandstone that gives this corner of Teruel its startling colour, eroded into towers, arches and overhangs among the pine trees.
The Pinares de Rodeno around Albarracín form a protected landscape with several painted shelters along marked footpaths, some open to visitors, some fenced. Expect small, faded figures of animals and people in red ochre; the pleasure comes from finding them and imagining who painted them, and why here. Ask locally about access before setting off, because some shelters are best visited with a guide.
Tormón has only a handful of residents and the feeling of a place at the end of the road. That quiet is the draw. The surrounding country is high, dry and cold in winter, sweet with pine resin in summer, and gloriously empty. Griffon vultures circle over the cliffs, and the stars at night are among the best in Spain.
The roads into the area are narrow and winding, often single carriageway with no centre line, climbing through pine forest and around rocky outcrops. Surfaces can be patched and gritty, and livestock and wildlife wander freely, so this is a place to ride smoothly rather than fast. To the south the Turia, known upstream as the Guadalaviar, cuts down towards the Rincón de Ademuz, a curious Valencian enclave wedged between Aragon and Castile, with orchards and terraced fields in the valley bottom. To the north, Albarracín itself, a pink medieval town clinging to a rock above a river loop, is one of the most striking villages in Spain and well worth the detour.
Teruel, about twenty-four kilometres away, is the place for certain fuel and supplies; the small villages nearby may not have a pump at all. While you are there, Teruel's Mudéjar towers, tiled in green and white, are a World Heritage site of their own, and the local cured ham, jamón de Teruel, is reason enough to stop for lunch.