Teruel is one of the emptiest provinces in Europe, and it is one of the best for riders who like to be alone. Around the headwaters of the Turia the land is high, dry and broken into long ridges, with pine forests, red clay and wide sky. The white goats of the shelter's name belong to a world of shepherding and rock painting, as the paintings here are in the Levantine style, with figures of animals in red pigment, and this is one of many shelters in the region.
Getting here means small roads, with little traffic and long views. The villages are tiny: Villel and Villastar have a few hundred inhabitants each, and the nearest real town is Teruel, with its Mudéjar towers decorated in green and white ceramic, a short way to the east. That is where to fill the tank and buy food. The land between is Celtiberian country, and before the Romans arrived it was the heartland of a people who left stone forts on many of the hilltops.
Weather matters more than you expect. The plateau is about a thousand metres above the sea, so winter is long, frosty and sometimes snowy, and the wind can be fierce. In summer the middle of the day is hot and dry, and the best hours are early morning and evening, when the light turns the earth pink. Spring brings flowers, and autumn brings stubble fields and clear air.
Teruel's local specialities include cured ham, protected by its own designation, and a simple dish of migas. Take water, because the villages may be shut, and bring a spare layer. The reward for the effort is a landscape that feels untouched, and a chance to stand in a shelter and look out on the same valley that the painters saw.