The Río Martín cuts a deep, narrow canyon through the dry limestone of the Bajo Aragón, in the province of Teruel, and the Recodo de los Chaparros, whose name means roughly the bend of the dwarf oaks, sits on that river a few kilometres from Albalate del Arzobispo. The land is rolling and almost treeless, covered in olive groves, almond trees and pale rocky fields, and it can feel like a different planet from the green north of Spain.
The river valley holds a good deal of Levantine rock art, painted in small shelters on the cliffs of the gorge by prehistoric hunters and herders, with deer and goats and human figures, many of them in red ochre. The Río Martín Cultural Park manages a set of sites and has an interpretation centre in Alacón, and a visit often needs a guide or a booking, because the paintings are delicate. Albalate itself has a former archbishop's palace and a Mudéjar tower, a reminder that this was a frontier land between Christian and Moorish Spain for centuries.
The riding is far better than the map suggests. The A-1402 and the minor roads that follow the river and cross the plateau are lightly used, the surface is usually decent and there are long open curves and a few tight descents into the gorge. Wind can be strong and the temperature swings are large: bitter in winter, with frost and sometimes snow, and hot in July and August, when the best plan is to ride in the early morning. Spring brings almond blossom and fresh green wheat, which turns the whole plateau soft and bright.
Albalate has about two thousand people and a station or two, but the larger town of Andorra, fifteen kilometres to the north and not to be confused with the principality, has nearly eight thousand people and a wider choice of fuel and food. This part of Aragon is famous for its olive oil, and for the Holy Week drumming of the villages, in which hundreds of drummers play together in the streets on Good Friday, a tradition recognised by UNESCO. If you happen to be there at Easter, hearing it in a square is unforgettable, though accommodation fills up and some roads are closed for processions.