The Segura river does something dramatic near Calasparra: it squeezes into the Almadenes canyon, a narrow gorge in grey limestone, and the first time you see it from the rim it is a quiet shock in a district otherwise made of dry hills and irrigated bottoms. The Cueva de las Cabras sits in that territory, in the dry uplands of Murcia where the Spanish Levant starts to blur into the interior plateau, and its rock paintings belong to the same family as those further north in Castellón.
Calasparra is known across Spain for its rice, the first Spanish rice to receive a denomination of origin, grown on terraced paddies fed by cold river water and traditionally thought to be as good in a paella as any. The town sits eleven kilometres from the shelter, has plenty of fuel and food and the sanctuary of the Virgen de la Esperanza tucked into the rocks above the river, which is worth a quiet visit. Cieza, bigger and at about thirteen kilometres, is famous for its peach blossom in spring, a flood of pink across the valley that draws visitors from all over the region.
The riding in this part of Murcia is open, hot and often empty. The roads are broad and relatively straight in the valley, then tighten into curves where they cross the ranges, and the surface varies, so keep an eye out for the occasional dust and gravel. The wind in the afternoons can be strong, and from June to September the temperature climbs high enough that early starts and plenty of water are not optional. Autumn and early spring are the pleasant seasons, when the air is clear and the colour of the hills turns almost orange.
The shelter itself, like many of its kind, is small and has been protected with a barrier, so go with realistic expectations. The paintings are in the typical red used by the hunter-gatherer and early farming peoples who lived here after the ice age. The Segura valley was a corridor for them, as it was later for Romans, Moors and the shepherds who drove their flocks between summer and winter pasture along the same lines.