Alpera is a small town on the plateau between Albacete and the Valencian coast, in the flat, windy country where La Mancha begins to tilt towards the sea. It is best known among archaeologists for Cueva de la Vieja, a shelter with one of the largest collections of Levantine paintings in the interior, and Abrigo II is part of the same group. The cluster of figures includes human forms, animals and symbols, painted in red and black, and the whole group is part of the UNESCO listing for the Mediterranean basin.
The landscape here looks plain at first, a patchwork of cereal fields, vineyards and almond plantations, with low limestone outcrops pushing up through the soil. On closer acquaintance, the rock outcrops turn out to be riddled with overhangs, and the paintings were made precisely because those shelters offered a dry, smooth wall in a country with few natural caves.
Roads in the district are straight and fast, with long visibility and little traffic. For a rider that means easy kilometres, though it is not high drama. Wind is the main enemy, blowing cold in winter and gritty in summer. Ayora, over in the Valencian side with about five and a half thousand people, is the nearest reasonably sized town for fuel and food. The big castle at Almansa, a short way along, commemorates the battle of 1707 that decided the War of the Spanish Succession in Spain, and the town makes a handy stop for lunch.
Fuel is not available at every village on the plateau, so take Ayora or Almansa as the safe choice. Water is not a problem in the villages, though out in the countryside there is none.
The best season is spring, when the cereal turns the plain green and wildflowers crowd the roadsides. Autumn brings a hazy gold, and in the vineyards the harvest is under way. Winter is cold and bleak and the frost can sit on the road until late morning, so check the surface before leaning into a bend.