Lower Aragon is a country of dry hills, olive groves and red earth, and in its ravines people painted on the rock thousands of years ago. Valcomuna is one of those rock art sites, between Alcañiz and Caspe near the village of Maella, part of the great family of painted shelters running down Spain's Mediterranean side that UNESCO listed as the Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula. The figures in this tradition are small and lively, archers, deer, goats and people in motion, painted in red and black under overhangs where the weather could not wash them away.
Most of these shelters are protected by fences and grilles, and visits are often guided or need arranging through the local tourist office or the rock art centres in the area, so look into that before you set off. Even from outside the fence, the setting is worth the ride: a quiet barranco of pale limestone, holm oak and rosemary, with the smell of thyme when the sun warms the slopes.
For riders, Alcañiz has a special pull. Just outside town is MotorLand Aragón, the circuit that hosts international motorcycle racing, and on a race weekend the whole district fills with bikes. The town itself is crowned by a castle of the Order of Calatrava, now a parador, and has a fine arcaded main square. Caspe, to the northeast, sits above the vast reservoir of the Ebro known locally as the Mar de Aragón, and gave its name to the Compromise of Caspe of 1412, when delegates chose a new king for the Crown of Aragon.
The roads between Alcañiz, Maella and Caspe are a pleasure: mostly quiet, well surfaced, with long fast bends over the hills and tighter sections where they drop into river valleys. Summer heat is intense, often well above thirty five degrees by midday, so ride early and late and carry water. Wind from the northwest, the cierzo, can be strong and gusty on exposed ridges. Spring, when the almond and olive country is green, is the best time.
Fuel is easy in Alcañiz and Caspe, both towns of eight to sixteen thousand people with plenty of bars and restaurants; Maella, smaller, has the basics. Try the Bajo Aragón olive oil, which has its own protected designation, and the local peaches if you come in late summer. A plate of migas with grapes is a classic in these parts.