Jumilla is wine country, and the hills around it hold one of the more unusual stretches of Spanish landscape. The town, a handsome place of about 25,000 people in the north of Murcia, lies on a high, dry plateau under the Sierra del Carche, and its name is on the label of bold red wines made from the Monastrell grape, a variety that thrives in poor, stony soil and fierce sun. Rows of low, gnarled bush vines stretch across the plain, with almond and olive trees and the odd fortified farmhouse, and the Carche range makes a dark backdrop to the north.
The rock shelters in this area belong to the Levantine rock art tradition, the red paintings of hunters and animals in small shelters that archaeologists place in the period after the last Ice Age. The Mediterranean rock art of the Iberian Peninsula was listed by UNESCO in 1998. The shelters are small, on cliffs and in ravines, and they are not easy to find. Many are protected by gates or are on private land, so it is best to ask at the museum in Jumilla before you set out. Do not touch or wet the paintings, which are fragile.
The landscape here is open, with big skies and long views, and the roads are generally good, with long straights and gentle curves between fields of vines. Summers are very hot, and winters can be cold, with frost and the odd fall of snow on the Carche. The best seasons are spring and autumn. In September the grape harvest is under way and tractors with trailers of grapes crowd the lanes, so ride with care.
Jumilla has fuel stations, supermarkets and many bodegas where you can book a tasting, and the town has a castle on a hill above the old quarter, which gives a good view over the roofs. Ontur and Albatana, smaller villages across the border in Albacete, are quiet and dusty places with little in the way of services. The local food leans on hearty dishes such as gazpacho manchego, a stew with flatbread and game, and on cheese and bread. A glass of local red with some cured ham is a good way to settle after a dusty ride.