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.
A 209 km round trip from Almansa - roughly 5 h 46 in the saddle. It goes by way of Olula, Cantos de la Visera I, Cueva del Peliciego and back through Cantos de la Visera I. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 850 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Almansa announces itself from far away: a castle perched on a limestone crag right in the middle of the town, its walls and towers silhouetted against the sky. The town sits at the eastern edge of La Mancha, where the high plateau meets the mountains of Valencia, and it was here, in April 1707, that one of the decisive battles of the War of the Spanish Succession was fought, when the Bourbon army defeated an allied force and secured the throne of Spain for Philip V. A monument on the battlefield and a museum in town tell the story. In the hills to the north, near Alpera, the Abric Pedro Mas holds prehistoric paintings, part of the UNESCO listing of Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula. Nearby, the Cueva de la Vieja is one of the best-known Levantine sites, with archers, deer and goats.
Read the complete Abric Pedro más write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abric Pedro más is where the day begins. Next is Olula.
Caudete and Almansa sit in a corridor of land where Castile-La Mancha, Valencia and Murcia meet, and for centuries this was frontier country, where kingdoms and armies passed and fought. Olula is a point in the hills near Caudete, linked on the rides with rock-art shelters in the surrounding sierras, part of the extensive UNESCO listing of prehistoric art in Mediterranean Spain.
Read the complete Olula write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Olula comes up about 28 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cantos de la Visera I.
Monte Arabí rises from the high plain north of Yecla like a ship run aground, a lonely mass of sandstone with flat top and fluted sides, and locals have told stories about it for centuries: Moorish treasure, enchanted caves, a hidden city. The real treasure is painted. The Cantos de la Visera shelters on its slopes hold prehistoric rock art, including Levantine figures of animals and schematic signs, and they belong to the great series of Mediterranean rock art sites listed by UNESCO. There are also strange carved holes and basins in the rock, whose purpose is still debated.
Read the complete Cantos de la Visera I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 76 km into the recorded legs you reach Cantos de la Visera I. Next is Cueva del Peliciego.
Jumilla is wine. This town in the north of Murcia sits in a high, dry valley surrounded by bare mountains, and its vineyards, planted with the Monastrell grape, produce powerful red wines under the Jumilla designation of origin, one of the oldest in Spain. The Cueva del Peliciego, a rock shelter in the hills near the town, holds prehistoric paintings in the Levantine style, and it has been known since the early twentieth century, when it was one of the first rock art sites studied in the region.
Read the complete Cueva del Peliciego write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cueva del Peliciego, about halfway. Next is back through Cantos de la Visera I.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cantos de la Visera I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Cantos de la Visera I sits at 117 km, about halfway. Next is back through Olula.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Olula write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Olula comes up about 180 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abric Pedro más.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abric Pedro más write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abric Pedro más closes the day.
Abric Pedro más → Olula is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Olula → Cantos de la Visera I is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cantos de la Visera I → Cueva del Peliciego is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cueva del Peliciego → back through Cantos de la Visera I is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cantos de la Visera I → back through Olula is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Olula → Abric Pedro más is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.