Fita is the Valencian word for a boundary stone, and many a ravine in this part of Alicante province bears the name because the line between two villages once ran along it. The Barranc de la Fita lies less than three kilometres from Castell de Castells, and Abric II is one of three catalogued shelters along it. They belong to the same family of rock paintings as the nearby Pla de Petracos, one of the most significant sites in the region, and share in the UNESCO designation of 1998.
What you come for is the road to Castell de Castells, which is the kind of road that makes a long detour seem a good idea. It leaves the Guadalest valley, with its toy-like castle and its turquoise reservoir, and crosses high bare country to a village huddled around its church. Along the way the road dips into a deep gorge, then rises in a series of hairpins, with limestone ridges to either side and the sea a blue strip far to the east. The Serrella range, about 1,300 metres at its highest, gives you a feeling of real mountains only a short drive from the beaches.
The Moriscos, the converted Muslims who made up most of the population here until their expulsion in 1609, built the terraces and irrigation channels that still shape the valley. Their descendants did not return, and the villages were repopulated by settlers from other parts of the kingdom, which explains the odd mix of Valencian dialect and Arabic names. It is the sort of history that you only grasp slowly, by looking at the walls and the way the water is led across the slope.
Services are modest. Bring water and sturdy shoes. In the middle of summer the heat on the south-facing slopes can be fierce, and the best time to walk is early in the morning.