The prehistoric painters of eastern Spain had a thing for archers. Across hundreds of rock shelters from Catalonia to Andalusia, they painted small, dynamic human figures drawing bows, chasing deer and goats, sometimes fighting each other, and these scenes of the so-called Levantine style are part of the UNESCO listing of rock art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula. Shelters with names like the Abrigo de los Arqueros Negros, the shelter of the black archers, are scattered through the limestone hills of the province of Teruel and its neighbours in Aragon, often in remote ravines and protected by grilles.
This is open, rolling upland at around eight hundred metres, with cereal fields, almond trees, poplars along the river and bare hills of red and ochre soil. It is a lonely, beautiful landscape, with wide skies and very few people, and the sense of having it to yourself is a big part of its charm.
The riding is relaxed and spacious, with long straight stretches and gentle curves along the valley, and more interesting roads climbing into the surrounding sierras. Traffic is light, but watch for farm vehicles and, at dusk, deer and wild boar. Weather is continental: cold winters with frost and occasional snow, hot dry summers and wind that can be relentless across the high plains.
Daroca, about fourteen kilometres away, has a petrol station, a few restaurants and shops, and its walls, gates and churches make it a fascinating stop, with a long history as a frontier town on the border between Christian and Muslim Spain. Calamocha, to the south, is another service town. West of Daroca the lagoon of Gallocanta attracts tens of thousands of common cranes in autumn and late winter, a sight and sound you will not forget.
Local food is robust: jamón from Teruel, lamb roasted with herbs, migas fried with garlic and grapes, and saffron grown in the Jiloca valley. Come in spring or autumn, and take your time. This is not a place to rush; it is a place to slow down and feel the size and age of the land.