Racó means corner in Valencian, and this really is a corner: a fold in the limestone hills between Benassal, Culla and Vilafranca, in the interior of Castellón where the coast's crowds feel a continent away. The rock shelter here is one of the many small sites of Levantine prehistoric painting that together make up a UNESCO World Heritage listing, and like most of them it is modest, fenced and best seen with a local guide. What lingers is less the painting than the idea of hunters choosing this exact overhang, with water close by and a view down the valley, and leaving their mark on it.
The villages around it are worth the detour in their own right. Culla stands on a hilltop with its walls and narrow lanes looking out over half the province; it was the centre of a medieval lordship that passed to the Templars and later to the Order of Montesa, and you can still feel the frontier character in its stone. Benassal is known for the spring of Font d'en Segures, whose light mineral water is bottled and sold across the region, and on summer evenings locals fill bottles at the fountains. The countryside between them is terraced almond and olive land giving way to holm oak and pine higher up.
For riding, this is a delight with a few caveats. The CV roads that link these villages are narrow and full of bends, climbing over cols and dropping into ravines, and you will meet more tractors than tourists. Some surfaces are excellent, others patched and gritty. Evening light turns the stone golden, but in winter frost lingers in the shaded corners until late morning, and summer thunderstorms can wash gravel across the road in minutes.
Plan your stops with care, because this is thinly populated country. The nearest town of any size is l'Alcora, about thirty-five kilometres toward the coast, known for its ceramics. Some of the villages have a small service station or a pump, but hours can be short, so arrive with plenty in the tank. Bars in Benassal and Culla serve simple, generous food: cured meats, local cheese, olla de la Plana stews in the cold months, and coffee strong enough to wake the dead.