Imagine a visit to a museum where the curator has not turned on the lights and the exhibits are painted on the walls of a cliff. That is Cova Remigia in the Gasulla ravine, where the shelter is a wide hollow in the limestone, a rock-roof high enough to stand under and deep enough to keep out most of the rain. Five kilometres from Benassal, on a plateau that is cold in winter and bright in summer, it lies on one of the great hunting grounds of the prehistoric past, and the paintings are among the clearest in Spain.
Shelter V is one of several in the Remigia complex, which shows how the rock was used again and again, with painted scenes added at different times. The first thing you notice is how small the figures are, often no more than a hand's length, and how much movement is drawn into them. Archers lean forward, run or turn, goats and deer escape in a few lines. It is easy to stand there and wonder what the scene was for, and the honest answer is that nobody knows for certain.
The road up is a pleasure. Leaving Benassal, you cross the plateau on a good surface, with open bends that bring you again and again to wide views across wheat fields and juniper, and a skyline that rarely has a house on it. The cold arrives early in autumn, so take a layer and gloves. Fuel is the question to settle before you set out: Alcalà de Xivert, thirty-three kilometres from here, is the sure answer, and Culla and Villafranca del Cid have only village services.
Access to the shelters is controlled through the cultural park, so find out in advance what is open. The Valltorta museum in Tírig is the best place to begin. Try not to arrive at midday, when the sun flattens everything; mornings and late afternoons bring the light across the rock at an angle that makes the pigment stand out.