Why this ride
A 100 km round trip from Tollos - roughly 2 h 04 in the saddle. The stops in between: Cova fosca, Cueva de la Clau and back through Cova fosca. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Abric de la Gleda and Cueva de la Clau
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 100 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 04
- 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 Gleda
Cocentaina is a small town with a surprisingly grand palace, and it makes a handy reference point for this corner of the Comtat. The Palau Comtal, a fortified residence from the Middle Ages, stands in the centre, and the town holds one of the oldest fairs in Spain, the Fira de Tots Sants, each year around All Saints' Day. Just down the valley is Alcoi, an industrial town built on paper and textiles, whose steep streets hold Modernista buildings and a famous festival of Moors and Christians. The villages of Planes and Beniarrés, a few kilometres away, are pastoral by comparison, and the Abric de la Gleda lies in the cliffs above one of the ravines that cut into the Serra de Mariola.
Read the complete Abric de la Gleda write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abric de la Gleda is where the day begins. Next is Cova fosca.
2. Cova fosca
The cave called Cova Fosca means the dark cave, and the name is as plain as the country around it, a series of pale limestone ravines in the interior of the Marina Alta. Vall d'Ebo, Adsubia and Pego lie at the foot of the mountains, with villages of a few hundred people, and a land of terraced slopes where the Moriscos, the Muslim farmers who stayed after the Christian conquest, grew grain, grapes and almonds until their expulsion in 1609. After that the valleys emptied, and the terraces stand as monuments to a vanished community.
Read the complete Cova fosca write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cova fosca comes up about 15 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cueva de la Clau.
3. Cueva de la Clau
Behind Gandia, the orange groves climb into the folded limestone hills of La Safor, and among the tiny villages there, Palma de Gandía and Ador sit almost touching each other at the foot of the slopes. Cueva de la Clau is one of the many rock shelters in the Valencian hills that form part of the UNESCO-listed Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula, a scattered collection of hundreds of sites where prehistoric people painted hunters, animals, dancers and abstract signs on limestone overhangs.
Read the complete Cueva de la Clau write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 49 km into the recorded legs you reach Cueva de la Clau. Next is back through Cova fosca.
4. back through Cova fosca
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cova fosca write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Cova fosca, late in the day. Next is Abric de la Gleda.
5. Abric de la Gleda
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abric de la Gleda 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 Gleda. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Abric de la Gleda to Cova fosca
Abric de la Gleda → Cova fosca is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cova fosca to Cueva de la Clau
Cova fosca → Cueva de la Clau is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cueva de la Clau to back through Cova fosca
Cueva de la Clau → back through Cova fosca is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cova fosca to Abric de la Gleda
back through Cova fosca → Abric de la Gleda is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.