Sivil is one of those names you will not find on a signpost, and that is rather the point. It belongs to the dry, folded country of the Somontano in northern Aragon, where the last foothills of the Pyrenees run out into the Ebro basin. The labels attached to it speak of a Moorish cave and a tobacco cave, which tells you the real subject: shelters in the limestone where people painted animals and hunters thousands of years ago, part of the Mediterranean rock art that UNESCO lists as a single family of sites.
The area itself is the reward. The Sierra de Guara rises just north, cut by the Vero and its tributaries into gorges that canyoneers come from all over Europe to descend. Alquézar, the nearest village at under nine kilometres, sits on a rock above the river with a collegiate church tucked inside the walls of an old Moorish fortress, and it is the sort of place where you will want to leave the bike at the edge and walk the stepped lanes. Barbastro, about twenty-six kilometres away, is the real town here, with some seventeen thousand people, fuel at any hour you will need it, and the cathedral and wine houses that give the Somontano its name.
On two wheels this is quiet, broken country. The roads are narrow and tarmac is patchy once you leave the main routes, with tight bends between almond and olive terraces and sudden dry-stone walls. Gravel washes onto the road after storms, so go gently on the descents. Summer is hot enough to make midday riding a chore; spring and early autumn, when the stone glows orange in late light, are far better. Look up as you ride, because griffon vultures ride the thermals over the gorges and you will often see a dozen at once.
For food, think of the local reds and whites, which have a respectable reputation, and of the grilled lamb and borage-and-potato dishes that Aragonese kitchens do well. Water is easy to find in the villages, but carry some between them. Fill the tank in Barbastro before you wander in, since the hamlets around Sivil are small and the next station can be a long way.