Almond blossom comes early to the Somontano, and in February the terraces around Alquézar turn pink and white before anything else has woken up. The word means under the mountain, and it describes the strip of land between the high Pyrenees to the north and the dry plains of the Ebro to the south. Chimiachas L lies about four kilometres from Alquézar, in the foothill country where the limestone ridges run in long parallel waves, with farmland in the hollows.
The shelters of the Vero valley, scattered through the cliffs, include several with prehistoric paintings, part of the Mediterranean Basin rock art listed by UNESCO in 1998. Many of the shelters are small, under shallow overhangs, and the paintings are faint, so the experience is as much about the walk and the place as about the image.
This is excellent country for unhurried riding. The back lanes link farms, stone barns and tiny hamlets, rolling over ridges and dipping into dry stream beds, and the corners are open, with views that run all the way to the high Pyrenees on a clear day. The surface can be rough, with patches of gravel, and farm tracks look tempting but turn muddy after rain. In summer the land is parched and golden, with the hum of cicadas, while spring and autumn bring greener hills and softer air.
The Somontano is also one of the quiet wine regions of Spain, with a good reputation for its reds and whites, produced around Barbastro, which is also the nearest town for fuel and supplies, about twenty kilometres from Alquézar. Barbastro's centre has a pleasant Gothic cathedral, arcaded streets and a lively food scene. Local specialities include borage, a vegetable found in this part of Aragon, cooked with potatoes, and the lamb known as ternasco.
If you can, plan the day so that you are walking in the cool of the morning and riding in the warmth, and keep a bottle of water handy, since shade is thin on these dry hillsides. The ride joins this shelter with the Cueva de los Moros.