Litonares is another of the small ravines and field names that the archaeologists have used to catalogue painted shelters in the middle Vero, and its pin lies three kilometres from Alquézar. The code E 2 tells you it is part of a numbered series, which is how these shelters are known on paper. In the field it will be a low overhang in pale limestone, probably under a juniper or an oak, with a view over a dry gully. What was painted on the rock is a question for the specialists, who date the Levantine art of Aragon to the period between hunting and farming.
Think of this one as a pause in a bigger day. The ride from Barbastro follows the Vero upstream and the road gets better as it narrows, with a repeating pattern of short straights and tight bends where the valley wall pushes in. The A-1232 rises and falls along the side of the canyon, with a patchwork of grey cliffs and green hillsides, and the sun reaches the bottom of the gorge only late in the morning. After heavy rain a little mud washes across the road at the stream crossings, so look at the surface before you lean.
Alquézar, the nearest village, is worth the time you spend on it. Its streets are steep and cobbled, so park at the lower end and walk, and take the footpaths that run beside the river below the town. The collegiate church above it was once part of a Moorish stronghold, and the castle is more or less a watchtower with a view. Inside the village you will find a handful of small restaurants where lamb, local oil and the cheese of the high Pyrenees appear on the menu.
Barbastro, the market town at the foot of the sierra, has several stations and is the place to top up before and after, as it lies twenty kilometres away along an easy road. Spring is lovely, summer is hot and busy with canyoning groups, and November often brings the clearest, calmest days.