L'Arc means the arch, and it is one of those place names that makes you look up. In the limestone of the Maestrat, weathering has worked on the rock for millions of years, carving ledges, hollows, pinnacles and now and then a natural arch or bridge where a thin wall has been eaten through. The shelter lies about six kilometres from Albocàsser, and carries painting in the Levantine tradition, protected by UNESCO as part of the rock art of the Mediterranean basin in Spain. The ride links it with the Arenal de la Fonseca, a sandy ledge where the rock crumbles to grit.
The limestone is the key to the place. It was laid down on the floor of an ancient sea, and if you look closely at the rock, you can sometimes find fossil shells, small spirals and fragments of coral. Rain then dissolved it, slowly, creating the ravines and caves that run through the country. Water is rare on the surface, but it moves underground and comes out in springs, which is why the old farms and villages are located where they are.
The roads around Albocàsser suit anyone who likes empty lanes. They are narrow, twisty and lightly surfaced, rising and dropping between almond and olive terraces, with views across the ravines to the pale hills beyond. Bends are tight, and gravel gathers at the edges. Mid-morning, when the sun is high enough to light the rock but the heat has not yet built, is the best moment, and spring and autumn the best seasons.
Fuel needs a plan. Albocàsser has fewer than fourteen hundred people, and neither Catí nor Les Coves de Vinromà is large enough to promise a pump. Alcalà de Xivert, on the plain, about eighteen kilometres away, is the town to rely on, with over six thousand people. Benassal and Culla, to the west, are small villages with a bar or two. Bring water, sun protection and a hat.