The wording is a clue: Peña del Escrito means the rock that is written on, and that is an old local way of describing a shelter with painted figures. This one lies in the Serranía de Cuenca, near the small village of Villar del Humo, in a country of deep gorges, pine woods and limestone cliffs. The paintings belong to the Levantine tradition, red figures of animals and people, and the area is recognised by UNESCO as part of the rock art of the Mediterranean basin of the Iberian peninsula.
The setting is half the point. The Cabriel river cuts through this land in a narrow gorge, with water that is clear and cold, and the plateau around is pine forest and scrub, with the odd stone farmhouse and a lot of silence. The roads are narrow and quiet, climbing and dropping over ridges, with plenty of bends and few other vehicles. Surfaces are generally decent but patchy, and sand or gravel can be washed across after a storm.
The villages are small. Villar del Humo has only a few hundred people, and Carboneras de Guadazaón about nine hundred, so services are limited, and it is best to bring fuel and food. Cuenca, to the north-west, is the nearest big town, and the place to fill the tank before heading into the hills. Weather here is changeable, with cold winters and hot dry summers; spring and autumn are the best seasons, when the pine smells of resin and the hills are green or gold.
Take a map or offline route, because phone signal disappears in the gorges. Be respectful at the shelter: do not touch the paintings, since oils from skin damage the pigment. Then sit for a while with the view, and consider how the painters chose their canvas, with the cliff facing the morning sun and the valley below.