Dusk is the best time on these lanes, and also the time to be careful. As the heat leaves the plateau around Albocàsser, the animals come out: rabbits darting across the tarmac, red-legged partridges whirring from the verge, and in the half-light, the occasional wild boar crossing from one bit of scrub to another. Foxes trot along the road edge, and owls hunt from the walls. A bike at dusk needs a slow pace and sharp eyes. The reward is the colour: the limestone goes from white to gold to rose, the sky turns violet, and the scent of thyme rises from the warm ground.
Mas d'en Salvador, Abric II, is about five kilometres from the village, and its painted shelter, in the Levantine tradition protected by UNESCO as part of the rock art of the Mediterranean basin in Spain, is best visited in daylight, of course. The ride links it with the Cueva de Mas del Abogat, which suggests that a lawyer, an abogado, once owned or farmed the land. Both sites are small and have no facilities.
If you are in this country late in the day, the lights of the villages show far across the valleys, and the dark is real. There is very little light pollution, and the stars come out thick. Take a torch, and tell someone where you are going. Phone signal drops out in the ravines, so a downloaded map is wise, and a thin jacket is useful for the evening chill, even in summer.
The roads are narrow, winding and quiet, with gravel and patchy tarmac, and many corners are blind. Aim to be back on the main road before full dark, since farm tracks branch off at unexpected places and there is little signposting. In winter, ice and fog can form quickly on the plateau.
Albocàsser has fewer than fourteen hundred people and may not have fuel on hand. Alcalà de Xivert, about nineteen kilometres away, is the reliable place for a tank and a meal. Catí and Les Coves de Vinromà are smaller and quieter.