There is more than one reason to come to the Barfaluy ravine, but the clearest is the sudden change in the land. From Alquézar the road runs along a plateau of fields and scrub, and then the ground simply drops away into a deep, narrow gorge where the walls rise sheer on either side and sunlight reaches the floor only briefly. Barfaluy I, one of the shelters in the series catalogued along it, lies five kilometres from the village, and as with others in the Vero valley it forms part of the Levantine rock art listed by UNESCO in 1998.
Barfaluy is also a place where you notice how the geology works. The rock is a pale limestone laid down in a warm sea, tilted and cracked by the rise of the Pyrenees, and the water that runs off the Sierra de Guara has cut through it like a saw. Hollows and overhangs form where softer layers are undercut, and swifts and choughs nest in the cracks. A good pair of binoculars will show you most of the birds in an hour, and the noise of the swifts at dusk is a joy.
If you are riding, the ravine itself is for walkers and canyoners, and you stay on the road above. The road from Alquézar along the Vero has a roughness that suits its character: not smooth, not fast, but full of little turns and drops. Expect to be passed by vans loaded with ropes and wetsuits, and slow down for walkers on the verge. In winter the cold can be sharp at the bottom of the valley, so wear a layer you do not need at midday.
Alquézar has coffee and some simple meals, and gets crowded on summer weekends. A lunch of grilled lamb or local sausage and a glass of Somontano wine makes a good break, and nobody minds if you take your time over it. Carry water if you walk, and watch the weather, because flash floods in narrow gorges are not a joke.