Los Estrechos means the narrows, and the name fits the country around Albalate del Arzobispo, in the Bajo Aragón, where the Martín river squeezes through limestone gorges on its way to the Ebro. The landscape is dry and open, a mixture of olive groves, almond terraces and low scrub, with sudden canyons and cliffs. The Martín valley is protected as a cultural park, because it holds a remarkable series of rock shelters with Levantine and Schematic paintings, some of which belong to the Mediterranean-arc group that UNESCO listed in 1998.
Albalate del Arzobispo takes its name from the archbishops of Zaragoza, who owned the town in the Middle Ages and built a castle and palace there. It has a population of about two thousand, with a mixture of Mudéjar and Renaissance buildings. Like several other towns of the Bajo Aragón, it is famous for its Holy Week drumming, in which hundreds of people strike drums together for hours, producing a sound that you feel in your chest. UNESCO recognised the Bajo Aragón drum tradition as intangible heritage in 2018.
The riding is open and relaxed. Roads between Albalate, Ariño and Híjar run across plateaus and along river valleys, with long gentle bends, sun-baked tarmac and large views. Traffic is light. The wind can be strong, and summer heat is intense, so ride in the morning or in spring and autumn. Olive harvest in winter brings tractors and nets across the road. The soil is pale and the sky large.
Fuel is available in Albalate, a few kilometres away, and in the bigger town of Andorra, fifteen kilometres to the south. Ariño, nearby, has a coal-mining past, with a large open-cast pit that shaped the landscape. For lunch, ask for local olive oil with bread, or lamb, and try the peaches in season. A walk to the narrows at dusk, when the cliffs turn amber, is memorable.