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 Villafranca del Cid it runs 383 km to Villafranca del Cid; allow about 8 h 19 of riding. It goes by way of L'Arc, Galeria del Roure, Las Rozas I and Abric del mas de Barberà. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,250 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
The Maestrat is the old Valencian highland, a country of bare limestone, stone-walled fields and farmhouses called masos, and the name of this shelter refers to one of them: the mas of the mill at the cave. It is a very long way from the beaches that most people associate with Castellón. The shelter lies a few kilometres from Villafranca del Cid, known in Valencian as Vilafranca, which sits at roughly a thousand metres on a plateau where the winters are cold and the summers are mercifully fresh.
Read the complete Abric del mas del moli de la Cova write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abric del mas del moli de la Cova is where the day begins. Next is L'Arc.
L'Arc means the arch, and it is one of those place names that makes you look up. In the limestone of the Maestrat, weathering has worked on the rock for millions of years, carving ledges, hollows, pinnacles and now and then a natural arch or bridge where a thin wall has been eaten through. The shelter lies about six kilometres from Albocàsser, and carries painting in the Levantine tradition, protected by UNESCO as part of the rock art of the Mediterranean basin in Spain. The ride links it with the Arenal de la Fonseca, a sandy ledge where the rock crumbles to grit.
Read the complete L'Arc write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
L'Arc comes up about 30 km into the recorded legs. Next is Galeria del Roure.
Morella rises from the plateau of the Ports like something from a dream: a walled town wrapped around a rocky hill, crowned by a castle, with the Gothic basilica of Santa María la Mayor in the middle, and two kilometres of medieval walls with towers and gates running around the base. It is one of the most impressive historic towns in Spain, and the Galeria del Roure, a rock shelter about four kilometres away, is part of the cluster of prehistoric sites around Morella, including Morella la Vella, one of the important rock-art sites of the Valencian region, all part of the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean rock art. The shelters are small and some are protected, so ask at the tourist office in town about visits.
Read the complete Galeria del Roure write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 82 km into the recorded legs you reach Galeria del Roure. Next is Las Rozas I.
The upper valley of the Guadalope in Teruel is a place where limestone has been folded, cut and carved into an extraordinary array of shapes: cliffs, gorges, natural arches and pinnacles, with the river winding between them in places of startling green. Near Castellote, the painted shelter labelled Las Rozas I is one of the sites of Levantine rock art listed by UNESCO. Its figures are faint and fragile, but they speak of people who hunted deer and ibex in these same valleys thousands of years ago.
Read the complete Las Rozas I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Las Rozas I, about halfway. Next is Abric del mas de Barberà.
Alcañiz is the capital of the Bajo Aragón, a region of olive groves, cereal fields and dry hills crossed by the Guadalope river in the south-east of Aragón. The town is crowned by a castle built for the Order of Calatrava, now a parador, and its main square, with a Gothic loggia and the town hall, is one of the finest in the region. The shelter of the Mas de Barberà lies in the hills just outside town, toward Castelserás and Calanda.
Read the complete Abric del mas de Barberà write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abric del mas de Barberà sits at 155 km, about halfway. Next is back through Las Rozas I.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Las Rozas I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Las Rozas I comes up about 244 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Galeria del Roure.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Galeria del Roure write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 303 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Galeria del Roure. Next is back through L'Arc.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete L'Arc write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through L'Arc, late in the day. Next is Abric del mas del moli de la Cova.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abric del mas del moli de la Cova write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 383 km.
Abric del mas del moli de la Cova → L'Arc is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
L'Arc → Galeria del Roure is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Galeria del Roure → Las Rozas I is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Las Rozas I → Abric del mas de Barberà is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abric del mas de Barberà → back through Las Rozas I is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Las Rozas I → back through Galeria del Roure is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Galeria del Roure → back through L'Arc is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through L'Arc → Abric del mas del moli de la Cova is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.