Alpera is a farming town of about two thousand three hundred people on the high, wind-swept plain of southern Albacete, where La Mancha slides toward the Valencian hills. It is famous in the archaeology books for the Cueva de la Vieja, a shelter with a dense frieze of Levantine paintings, among the most celebrated in Spain, and the Cueva del Queso, the Cheese Cave, is one of its neighbours. Together these belong to the Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula, a UNESCO site since 1998.
The setting is a surprise if you think of Spain as coast and mountains. This is a high plateau, around the height of a decent hill in Britain, with vineyards, almond trees and cereal fields rolling to the horizon under a huge sky. The land is broken by low limestone ridges, outcrops and gullies, and the shelters are in those cuts. Almansa, a short ride away, has a castle on a rock that looks like it was drawn by a child, and it was the site of a decisive battle in the War of the Spanish Succession in 1707.
Riding here is open and fast. The roads run straight across the plain with long visibility, and there are some pleasing sweepers where they drop toward the Valencian side, with long views over vineyard and plateau. Traffic is light on the minor roads. The main danger is wind, which can blow steadily from the west and hit bikes hard at gaps and ridges, so keep a firm grip. Winters are cold at this height and frost can lurk on shaded bends, while summers are very hot.
For fuel and supplies, Alpera itself has enough people to have a pump, though a full range of services is in Almansa or Ayora. Carcelén and Alatoz are tiny and quiet. Alatoz leads you toward the gorges of the Júcar river, a spectacular detour if you have time. Take water in summer, as there is little shade.