Why this ride
A 496 km round trip from Aldeaquemada - roughly 10 h 19 in the saddle. On the way it passes La Alamedilla, Cueva del Encajero and back through La Alamedilla. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Abrigo de D. Pedro mota and Cueva del Encajero
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 496 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 10 h 19
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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. Abrigo de D. Pedro mota
Aldeaquemada means the burnt village, which tells you something about how rough the Sierra Morena used to be. This is a thinly populated corner of Jaén province, on the edge of the Despeñaperros range, and the shelter named after D. Pedro Mota is one of a large group of painted rock shelters in the hills. The paintings belong to what archaeologists call Levantine and Schematic rock art, small red and black figures of people, animals and symbols made by prehistoric hunters and later farming communities, and UNESCO listed the whole Mediterranean-arc group in 1998.
Read the complete Abrigo de D. Pedro mota write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abrigo de D. Pedro mota is where the day begins. Next is La Alamedilla.
2. La Alamedilla
Nobody lives close to this point, and that is its main fact. It lies in the eastern Sierra Morena, in the wild border country between Córdoba and Jaén, where holm oak and cork oak cover steep, empty hills and the nearest villages, Mestanza, Baños de la Encina and Cardeña, are all more than twenty-five kilometres away. The ride titles link it with the mercury mines of Almadén, whose Royal Forced Labour Gaol and miners' hospital are part of a UNESCO listing shared with Idrija in Slovenia, but Almadén lies far to the north-west, and the connection is a routing choice rather than a neighbourhood.
Read the complete La Alamedilla write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
La Alamedilla comes up 76 km in. Next is Cueva del Encajero.
3. Cueva del Encajero
Olives, and then more olives. Riding west out of Jaén towards Torredonjimeno you cross one of the most single-minded agricultural landscapes in Europe, a rolling grid of grey-green trees running over every hill to the horizon, broken only by white farmhouses and the occasional oil mill. Somewhere among these low hills near Villardompardo, the Cueva del Encajero is a small rock shelter with traces of prehistoric painting, one of the many scattered sites that make up the World Heritage listing of rock art in Spain's Mediterranean basin.
Read the complete Cueva del Encajero write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
153 km in you reach Cueva del Encajero. Next is back through La Alamedilla.
4. back through La Alamedilla
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete La Alamedilla write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through La Alamedilla, late in the day. Next is Abrigo de D. Pedro mota, 76 km on.
5. Abrigo de D. Pedro mota
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo de D. Pedro mota write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Abrigo de D. Pedro mota. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Abrigo de D. Pedro mota to La Alamedilla
Abrigo de D. Pedro mota → La Alamedilla is 72 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
La Alamedilla to Cueva del Encajero
La Alamedilla → Cueva del Encajero is 81 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Cueva del Encajero to back through La Alamedilla
Cueva del Encajero → back through La Alamedilla is 81 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through La Alamedilla to Abrigo de D. Pedro mota
back through La Alamedilla → Abrigo de D. Pedro mota is 72 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.