Nerpio is about as remote as mainland Spain gets. The village sits in the far southwest corner of Albacete province, in the Sierra de Segura, where the mountains of Andalusia, Murcia and Castilla-La Mancha meet, and the rock shelters scattered around it make up one of the richest concentrations of prehistoric art in the region. The Abrigo de las Cañadas II belongs to that group, an overhang in the hills between Nerpio and the high plateaus toward Huéscar and Yeste.
The landscape is magnificent and harsh: limestone ridges, deep river valleys, pine forest and, in the valley around Nerpio, terraces of walnut trees that the village is known for. The Taibilla river rises nearby. The air is clean, the nights are full of stars and the silence is deep. Ibex move on the cliffs, and eagles patrol the skies.
For riders, the roads here are the attraction. They twist endlessly through the mountains, climbing over passes and dropping into valleys, with little traffic but plenty of tight bends, steep gradients and changing surfaces. Some are well maintained, others narrow and broken, and the distances between villages are long. This is not a place to run low on fuel: Nerpio has very limited services, and the nearest towns of size, Huéscar to the south and Moratalla or Caravaca to the east, are thirty kilometres or more away over mountain roads. Fill up before you come and carry water.
Visits to the rock art are organised from Nerpio, often with a guide, and require some walking over rough terrain. The shelters are fenced to protect the paintings. The village itself has bars and a few places to eat, serving hearty mountain food such as stews, lamb and cured meats. Winters are cold here and snow is possible, while summers are warm but fresher than the plains below. Come in May or October if you can, when the light is soft and the terraces are green.