In 1412 nine delegates met in the little Aragonese town of Caspe to decide who should be king of Aragon after the death of Martin the Humane without an heir, and the choice they made, Ferdinand of Antequera of the Castilian royal house, changed the course of Spanish history. The Compromise of Caspe is the thing most people know about the town, which sits on the Ebro seventeen kilometres from here, and it gives this dry, wide, thinly peopled corner of Aragon an unexpected sense of having once been at the centre of things. Val de Mamet is a quiet barranco in the hills to the east, on the border country between Aragon and Catalonia.
The land is steppe-like. Pale hills carry thyme, rosemary and Aleppo pine, and the fields in between grow cereals, almonds and olives. Villages are small and far apart: Fabara, Nonaspe and Mequinenza each count a few thousand people at most, and Mequinenza has the old town now lying under the reservoir of the Ebro. Fabara has a surprise, a Roman mausoleum of the second century standing in a field just outside the village, a tall, tower-like tomb with columns, one of the best preserved in the region.
The roads are uncrowded and fast. They run in long, open stretches across the plateau and then dip into river valleys where bends tighten and the surface is somewhat patchy. Wind is a constant companion, especially the cierzo from the north-west, which can be strong enough to push a bike across the lane, so hold the bars firmly on exposed stretches. Summers are hot and winters cold and clear, and spring and autumn are the pleasant seasons.
The shelter itself is typical of the region: modest, protected, with a few painted figures of the Levantine tradition. Caspe, with about eight thousand people, is the sensible choice for fuel, supplies and a meal, and its fortified church and old centre are worth a short stop. Take water, wear walking shoes, and remember that these shelters survive only because visitors treat them gently.