Nerpio is a village of sixteen hundred people at more than a thousand metres in south-west Albacete, and the area is among the richest in Spain for prehistoric painting. The shelter at Cavidad VI is one of dozens, in the Levantine tradition protected by UNESCO as part of the Mediterranean rock art of Spain, and the ride links it with a site called Las Cazuelas, the Cooking Pots, and a cave named for a Gypsy, Cueva del Gitano, a name that probably recalls a squatter or a shepherd rather than any famous event. The label Cavidad, meaning a cavity, tells you something about the people who numbered these places. They were archaeologists with a long list of holes in the rock.
The setting is high, thinly peopled mountain country. The Taibilla and Segura rivers rise nearby, in the Sierra del Segura and Sierra de Alcaraz, and the ground is limestone cut into long ridges and wooded gorges. Pine, juniper and holm oak cover the slopes, and in spring the meadows are full of wild flowers. Golden eagles and griffon vultures use the thermals along the ridges, and wild boar and roe deer are common but shy. After sunset, the sky fills with stars, and the cold comes down fast, even in July.
For a motorcyclist, the district has the perfect combination of emptiness, bends and views. Roads dip and climb through forest and across high plains, with long sweeping turns and, in the gorges, sharp bends with steep drops. They are mostly in good condition, though side roads can be rough and gravelly. You can ride an hour without meeting another vehicle, and the odd flock of sheep or goats is the main hazard. Spring and autumn are lovely; in winter, snow and ice make some roads impassable.
Fuel is the big question. Yeste, about twenty-three kilometres away, is the nearest village with services, and the town of Moratalla, in Murcia, with more than eight thousand people, is farther but reliable. Letur, a pretty village with Moorish lanes, is a good stop for a drink. Carry warm clothes, water, and a spare layer, since conditions can change quickly.