Why this ride
A 284 km round trip from Bicorp - roughly 5 h 21 in the saddle. On the way it passes Abric del Pontet, Penya Escrita and back through Abric del Pontet. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Abric de la Balsa Calicanto and Penya Escrita
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 284 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 21
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Abric de la Balsa Calicanto
Bicorp is a village of just over six hundred people in the dry, broken country where the Valencian interior folds into the gorges of the Júcar and the Cabriel, and the Balsa Calicanto shelter lies about four kilometres from it. Rock art is at home here. In the same municipality, the Cueva de la Araña, the Spider Cave, holds one of the best-known scenes in Spanish prehistoric painting: a small figure climbing what look like ropes or vines to raid a wild bees' nest, honey bag in hand. It was painted by hunter-gatherers thousands of years ago, and it is part of the UNESCO-listed Levantine rock art. Many of the other shelters nearby are more modest, and Calicanto is one of those.
Read the complete Abric de la Balsa Calicanto write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abric de la Balsa Calicanto is where the day begins. Next is Abric del Pontet.
2. Abric del Pontet
The Serra de Mariola is the green heart of the Valencia-Alicante borderlands, a mountain range of pine, holm oak and aromatic scrub that feeds the rivers Vinalopó and Clariano and perfumes the air with thyme and rosemary. The Abric del Pontet is one of its rock shelters, a small overhang with prehistoric paintings, part of the scattered UNESCO site that gathers the rock art of Mediterranean Spain. It sits between Bocairent, Alfafara and Ontinyent, and it is the kind of place that makes most sense as an excuse to explore the villages around it.
Read the complete Abric del Pontet write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abric del Pontet comes up about 71 km into the recorded legs. Next is Penya Escrita.
3. Penya Escrita
In the folded limestone hills behind the Costa Blanca, far enough inland that the resorts feel like another country, a rock shelter called Penya Escrita holds prehistoric paintings. The name means something like the written rock, which is what the people of Tàrbena and Bolulla called it long before archaeologists arrived. The figures belong to the rock art of the Mediterranean Basin of the Iberian Peninsula, a UNESCO site made up of hundreds of shelters scattered from Catalonia down to Andalusia, painted by hunter-gatherers and early farmers thousands of years ago. They are small, faded and easy to miss, and they are best appreciated with patience rather than expectation.
Read the complete Penya Escrita write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 142 km into the recorded legs you reach Penya Escrita. Next is back through Abric del Pontet.
4. back through Abric del Pontet
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abric del Pontet write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Abric del Pontet, late in the day. Next is Abric de la Balsa Calicanto.
5. Abric de la Balsa Calicanto
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abric de la Balsa Calicanto write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Abric de la Balsa Calicanto. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Abric de la Balsa Calicanto to Abric del Pontet
Abric de la Balsa Calicanto → Abric del Pontet is 71 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abric del Pontet to Penya Escrita
Abric del Pontet → Penya Escrita is 71 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Penya Escrita to back through Abric del Pontet
Penya Escrita → back through Abric del Pontet is 72 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abric del Pontet to Abric de la Balsa Calicanto
back through Abric del Pontet → Abric de la Balsa Calicanto is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.