Abric de Tollos I o de la fuente Seca and Barranc de la falaguera- Abric I

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Abric de Tollos I o de la fuente Seca

   This is the country of the honey-gatherer. Not far from here, in a cave near Bicorp, one of the best-known Levantine paintings shows a tiny figure climbing a rope ladder to a wild bees' nest high in a cliff, with bees swarming around him. It is thousands of years old, and it is a reminder that the artists who painted these shelters were also men and women who took honey from the rock, followed deer through the scrub and watched the weather. The Abric de Tollos belongs to the same family of shelters in the hills of inland Valencia, part of the Levantine rock art listed by UNESCO.

   Read the complete Abric de Tollos I o de la fuente Seca write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Abric de Tollos I o de la fuente Seca is where the day begins. Next is Cueva del Cerro.

2. 2. Cueva del Cerro

   Inland Valencia is a world away from the beaches on the coast. Behind the orange groves and the motorway the land rises into dry, folded mountains cut by deep gorges, where villages of a few hundred people cling to the hillsides and the pines smell of resin in the heat. Millares and Dos Aguas lie in this country, near the Júcar and Cabriel rivers, and the Cueva del Cerro is a rock shelter in the limestone, one of the many places in eastern Spain where prehistoric people left paintings on the walls.

   Read the complete Cueva del Cerro write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Cueva del Cerro comes up about 26 km into the recorded legs. Next is Barranc de la falaguera- Abric I.

3. 3. Barranc de la falaguera- Abric I

   Alginet sits in the Ribera Alta, the flat, fertile plain south of Valencia where the Júcar river spreads out among orange groves, rice fields and small towns. To the west, the plain meets the first hills of the interior, low ridges of limestone covered in pine and scrub. The Barranc de la Falaguera, the ravine of the fern, cuts into these hills near Alginet, Alfarp and Benifaió.

   Read the complete Barranc de la falaguera- Abric I write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 74 km into the recorded legs you reach Barranc de la falaguera- Abric I. Next is back through Cueva del Cerro.

4. 4. back through Cueva del Cerro

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Cueva del Cerro write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Cueva del Cerro, late in the day. Next is Abric de Tollos I o de la fuente Seca.

5. 5. Abric de Tollos I o de la fuente Seca

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Abric de Tollos I o de la fuente Seca 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 Tollos I o de la fuente Seca. That is the ride.