Red paint in these shelters is mostly iron oxide, ground from ochre and mixed with something that has not been identified for certain, perhaps animal fat, blood, egg or plant sap, and some figures were drawn in black from charcoal or manganese. That is more or less the entire chemistry of Levantine art, and the fact that a handful of earth pigments have survived thousands of years in open air under an overhang is one of the minor miracles of Spanish archaeology. Cova Remigia, in the Gasulla ravine near Ares del Maestrat, is the place where you can see how well it has worked.
Look closely at a panel and you will find that figures overlap. A later artist painted over an earlier scene, and in a few cases repainted the same figure, which is how specialists build a sequence of styles and tell older from younger. It is a slow, patient discipline, closer to reading a palimpsest than admiring a picture. The Gasulla shelters are rich in this kind of evidence, and that is one reason why scholars have studied them for ninety years.
For a rider the interest is in the setting. Benassal is five kilometres off, and the roads that lead into the Gasulla cross a high plateau with oak and pine, easy bends and almost no traffic. They are at their best between April and October, though early autumn mornings can be foggy and the surface slick. The Culla road, to the north-east, is well worth taking for the castle ruin on a ridge. Alcalà de Xivert, thirty-three kilometres away, has the fuel.
You may find that access is arranged through the park management, which asks that visitors go with a guide or at specified times. It is a sensible rule, because every curious hand leaves a mark. Bring water, wear boots, and give yourself time to stand and look for a full five minutes before you take a photograph. Often the second look finds figures the first one missed.