Abric de la monja and Barranco de las Colochas- Abrigo I

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Abric de la monja

   Ontinyent sits in the Vall d'Albaida, in the south of Valencia, a town of about thirty-eight thousand people with a long textile tradition that goes back to wool, blankets and, more recently, home textiles. The Clariano river runs through it, and the hills around are wrinkled limestone, covered in pine, holm oak and wild herbs. In the shelter of those hills, small rock overhangs, called abrics here, carry paintings made by prehistoric people, and the Abric de la Monja is one of them, part of the Mediterranean Basin rock art that UNESCO listed in 1998.

   Read the complete Abric de la monja write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Abric de la monja is where the day begins. Next is Abrigo de Vicent.

2. 2. Abrigo de Vicent

   For most of its length, the Júcar river in Valencia province runs through gorges, reservoirs and dry hills, and in the days before roads, the way to bring timber from the mountains to the coast was to float it. The woodsmen who did this were called gancheros, after the long hooked poles they used to push logs through rapids, and for centuries they took pine trunks down the Júcar and the Cabriel in spring floods, riding the logs and breaking jams. That trade ended in the twentieth century, but their memory is kept alive in villages like Millares and Bicorp. The shelter named for a man, Abrigo de Vicent, lies about five and a half kilometres from Bicorp, and carries painting in the Levantine tradition, protected by UNESCO as part of the rock art of the Mediterranean basin in Spain.

   Read the complete Abrigo de Vicent write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Abrigo de Vicent comes up about 69 km into the recorded legs. Next is Barranco de las Colochas- Abrigo I.

3. 3. Barranco de las Colochas- Abrigo I

   West of Valencia, the river Turia leaves the mountains through a series of deep gorges, and around the villages of Gestalgar, Sot de Chera and Chulilla, the landscape turns dramatic: limestone cliffs, pine-covered slopes and the river winding green below. In a side ravine near Gestalgar, the Barranco de las Colochas shelters a handful of painted panels that UNESCO counts among the Mediterranean rock art of Iberia. The figures are faint, but the setting is worth the effort on its own.

   Read the complete Barranco de las Colochas- Abrigo I write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 154 km into the recorded legs you reach Barranco de las Colochas- Abrigo I. Next is back through Abrigo de Vicent.

4. 4. back through Abrigo de Vicent

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Abrigo de Vicent write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Abrigo de Vicent, late in the day. Next is Abric de la monja.

5. 5. Abric de la monja

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Abric de la monja 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 monja. That is the ride.