CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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.
From Millares it runs 313 km to Millares; allow about 7 h 52 of riding. It goes by way of Abric del Barranco Garrofero, Barranco del Cabezo del moro, Cueva de la Vieja and back through Barranco del Cabezo del moro. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 850 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
The Júcar gorge below Dos Aguas is the sort of scenery that makes Spanish interior roads famous among riders. A deep valley of red and grey rock, pine and oak, it carries the river towards the sea, and the villages along it, Millares and Dos Aguas among them, are old and small. The Abric de la Pareja is a rock shelter in the cliffs nearby, and its name, the Couple, refers to a pair of painted figures. It is part of the Levantine rock art that UNESCO lists among the Mediterranean Basin sites, and its paintings are among the best examples of how prehistoric hunters pictured themselves.
Read the complete Abric de la Pareja write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abric de la Pareja is where the day begins. Next is Abric del Barranco Garrofero.
Somewhere in the mountains south of Valencia there is a cave named for a spider, and it holds one of the most famous paintings of prehistoric Europe. The Cueva de la Araña, in the village of Bicorp, shows a figure climbing a rope or ladder of plant fibre on a cliff face, apparently collecting honey from a wild bees' nest, with bees flying around. It is a small, lively picture, thought to be several thousand years old, and it has become an emblem of the Levantine rock art tradition that UNESCO listed in 1998. The shelters nearby, among them the Barranco Garrofero, belong to the same landscape and tradition, and you should treat them as protected and fragile places.
Read the complete Abric del Barranco Garrofero write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abric del Barranco Garrofero comes up about 38 km into the recorded legs. Next is Barranco del Cabezo del moro.
Almansa is one of those towns you see from the motorway and do not stop at, and that is a mistake. Its castle is spectacular, a Gothic fortress built on a sharp limestone outcrop right in the middle of town, looking exactly like a child's drawing of a castle. Around it spreads a wide plain at about seven hundred metres, the meeting point of the Valencian, Murcian and Castilian lands, and a few kilometres out in the surrounding hills lies the ravine known as the Barranco del Cabezo del Moro.
Read the complete Barranco del Cabezo del moro write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 111 km into the recorded legs you reach Barranco del Cabezo del moro. Next is Cueva de la Vieja.
In 1910 a local man led researchers to a shallow shelter above the plain of Alpera in Albacete, and the paintings they found there became some of the best known examples of Levantine rock art in Spain. The Cueva de la Vieja shows archers with feathered headdresses, women in long skirts, deer and goats, all painted with a sense of movement that still feels immediate. The nearby Cueva del Queso holds more figures. Both are part of the UNESCO listing for the rock art of the Iberian Mediterranean, and guided visits run from the village, so check times with Alpera's tourist office.
Read the complete Cueva de la Vieja write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cueva de la Vieja, about halfway. Next is back through Barranco del Cabezo del moro.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Barranco del Cabezo del moro write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Barranco del Cabezo del moro sits at 127 km, about halfway. Next is back through Abric del Barranco Garrofero.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abric del Barranco Garrofero write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Abric del Barranco Garrofero comes up about 276 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abric de la Pareja.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abric de la Pareja write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abric de la Pareja closes the day.
Abric de la Pareja → Abric del Barranco Garrofero is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abric del Barranco Garrofero → Barranco del Cabezo del moro is 73 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Barranco del Cabezo del moro → Cueva de la Vieja is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cueva de la Vieja → back through Barranco del Cabezo del moro is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Barranco del Cabezo del moro → back through Abric del Barranco Garrofero is 80 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abric del Barranco Garrofero → Abric de la Pareja is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.