A farmhouse in the Maestrat is called a mas, and the plateau around the Gasulla used to be dotted with them: low, thick-walled stone buildings with a threshing floor, a sheepfold, a cistern and a few fields of cereal, each one a small self-sufficient world. Many are now roofless, with trees growing through the floors, and the shell of an abandoned mas at the end of a farm track is a typical sight here. Depopulation has been the story of the interior of eastern Spain for a century, and the Cingle de la Mola Remigia lies in the middle of its effects.
It matters to a rider because it shapes the roads. Tracks that once linked farms to villages are now grassy ruts, and the paved roads that survive are the ones that connected the larger places, so you get quiet, well-surfaced tarmac running through country that has almost no buildings on it. You will see a few shepherds, a farmer on a tractor and perhaps a hunter in his orange vest in the season, but mostly you will see the land. Take care with sheep on the road, and remember that fog on a spring morning can drop visibility to a few metres.
Benassal, five kilometres from the shelter, is one of the villages that have held on, with a few hundred families and the services that go with them: a bar, a bakery, a small shop. Culla and Villafranca del Cid are the same. The shelter itself, one of many in the Gasulla, belongs to a past in which these hills were populated by hunters who moved with the seasons, and who left their marks in the places where they sheltered.
Fuel is the thing to plan. The nearest sizeable town is Alcalà de Xivert, thirty-three kilometres away, and Villafranca has a more limited supply. Bring water and expect to walk. The access is regulated to protect the paintings, so check with the information office before you go, and never touch the rock.