Why this ride
From Tollos it runs 99 km to Tollos; allow about 2 h 04 of riding. It goes by way of Cova fosca, Cueva de la Clau and back through Cova fosca. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Abric del Racó del Condoig and Cueva de la Clau
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 99 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 del Racó del Condoig
When you stand in the valleys behind Planes, in the country between Alcoi and the coast, it is easy to forget how recently they were emptied. The Racó del Condoig shelter lies about five kilometres from Planes, in a landscape of dry-stone terraces, cherry and almond trees and narrow gorges. The paintings in the shelter belong to the Levantine tradition, listed by UNESCO with other rock art of eastern Spain, and they were made so long ago that the people who made them would have seen the Moors as impossibly modern.
Read the complete Abric del Racó del Condoig write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abric del Racó del Condoig 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 14 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 48 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 del Racó del Condoig.
5. Abric del Racó del Condoig
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abric del Racó del Condoig write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Abric del Racó del Condoig. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Abric del Racó del Condoig to Cova fosca
Abric del Racó del Condoig → Cova fosca is 14 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 del Racó del Condoig
back through Cova fosca → Abric del Racó del Condoig is 14 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.