The Maestrat of inland Castellón is a highland of stone: stone villages on hilltops, stone walls running for kilometres across the slopes, stone farmhouses called masos scattered over the plateau. Roca del Senallo is a rock shelter near Culla, Vilafranca and Benassal, one of many painted shelters in this region, and it belongs to the World Heritage Site of Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin. The Maestrat is one of the richest areas for Levantine art, with famous sites in the Valltorta gorge and around Ares and Albocàsser.
The museum of the Valltorta at Tírig explains the art of the region, with reproductions of the paintings and guided visits to the shelters. The Levantine paintings here include hunting scenes with archers and deer, among the most dynamic images in prehistoric art. Some of the archers are drawn mid-stride, legs flung wide and bows drawn, with a sense of speed that feels startlingly modern for figures a few centimetres tall painted thousands of years ago.
Culla is a medieval village on a hilltop, with views over the surrounding mountains, and Benassal has a famous mineral water spring, the Font d'en Segures. Vilafranca is known for its drystone walls, an art form in itself, and has a museum devoted to the craft. The landscape is high and open, with pine forests, pastures, almond trees and dramatic limestone cliffs.
The riding is excellent: quiet roads with many curves, climbs and descents, and views over the mountains. The roads through the Maestrat are some of the best in eastern Spain, with little traffic and good surfaces. In winter the high plateau can be cold and snowy, and in summer it is cooler than the coast. Watch for livestock, cyclists and occasional gravel.
Vilafranca can usually supply fuel, and l'Alcora, thirty-four kilometres away, is the nearest town with a full range of services. Maestrat cooking is built for cold winters: stews of lamb and beans, game, cured hams hung in cool attics and, from December, truffles.