Barbastro is the place that gives the whole district its sense of order, and it is worth a few minutes of history before you ride on. Aragon finally took the town for good in the early twelfth century. Much later, in 1902, Josemaría Escrivá, the founder of Opus Dei, was born here, which has brought a steady stream of pilgrims.
The shelter marked Muriecho E3 lies about five kilometres from Alquézar and ten from Salas Altas, on the eastern side of the Vero valley. It is one of three or four in the Muriecho series, and it belongs to the Levantine rock art listed by UNESCO in 1998, with figures that are typically small and red. The countryside around it is a patchwork of dry fields and oak scrub, and the view to the north takes in the first snowy ridges of the Pyrenees on clear days.
The road from Barbastro to Alquézar is the reason you are here. It is the A-1232, and it climbs gently from the plain through a landscape of vines and olives, with a surface that varies from excellent to patchy. The bends are generally moderate, and the road is best enjoyed at a relaxed pace, with stops to look at the view. On weekdays it is quiet, and on summer weekends you will share it with canyoners' minibuses and cyclists. Winter brings cold, and in the shade ice can last until the afternoon.
Barbastro is large enough, with about seventeen thousand inhabitants, to have all the fuel and food you could want, and the old town around the cathedral is worth an hour. In the Somontano wine bars you can taste the local reds and whites by the glass. Alquézar, in contrast, has few services, so fill the tank before you leave town.