Where the Vero canyon opens out above Alquézar, the land is partitioned into dry terraces that once held wheat and olives, and one of those fields or slopes carried the name Quizáns. The shelter listed as Quizáns I is the first of its group, a little over three kilometres from the village and twenty from Barbastro. It belongs to the family of painted shelters of the Aragonese Pre-Pyrenees, which are part of the Levantine art that UNESCO listed in 1998, and in this area it often means lines of tiny archers and animals in a dull red pigment.
The view from this level, if you can find a clear patch of ground, is generous. Southward the Somontano rolls out in a patchwork of vineyards and almond trees, and on a crisp winter morning the Pyrenees show up in the north as a serrated white line. The name Somontano itself means at the foot of the mountain, which is exactly where you are. The wine trade here has grown since the late twentieth century, and Barbastro is full of tasting rooms and cooperatives where you can buy a bottle for the evening, if you have space in the panniers.
Roads in the district are the kind that tourists tend to underrate. They are narrower than the signs suggest, with edges that crumble where tractors have passed, and short, steep ramps that follow the hillside. Take it easy for the first ten kilometres and the surface will tell you what to expect. October is a particularly good month, because the grape harvest has just finished, the stubble is gold and the air is clear.
Barbastro has the nearest stations, and a good Saturday market. Its cathedral is a big late Gothic hall church with a fine altarpiece, and the old quarter is quietly handsome. There is a small supply of water at the village, and the rest of the route is dry, so bring plenty if you plan to walk to the shelter.