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 396 km round trip from Velez Rubio - roughly 8 h 08 in the saddle. On the way it passes Cueva de la Plata, Cejo Cortado I, Cueva de las Conchas and Cueva de los Pucheros. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,050 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Almería is known for its beaches and desert, but the north of the province holds a different landscape: high, dry limestone mountains with pine forests, almond groves and a series of rock shelters where prehistoric people painted. The Sierra de María-Los Vélez rises above two thousand metres, and around the town of Vélez-Blanco several shelters preserve paintings of the Levantine style, with small, lively red figures of hunters, animals and humans. UNESCO lists Spain's Levantine rock art as a World Heritage Site, and the Abrigo de la Esperilla is one of those painted places.
Read the complete Abrigo de la Esperilla write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo de la Esperilla is where the day begins. Next is Cueva de la Plata.
Aledo is a tiny village on a rocky spur in the hills of Murcia, a place that punches well above its weight in history. In the eleventh century, it was a fortress on the frontier between Christian Castile and the Muslim taifa kingdoms, and the siege of Aledo in 1088 was a major episode in the struggle for the peninsula. A tower still stands above the village. The Cueva de la Plata, the silver cave, lies in the hills nearby, between Aledo, Totana and Alhama de Murcia.
Read the complete Cueva de la Plata write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cueva de la Plata comes up about 60 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cejo Cortado I.
Mula is a town in the heart of the Murcia region, built on the slopes of a hill crowned by a sixteenth-century castle, with an old quarter of narrow streets, noble houses and churches. Around it, a dry landscape of hills, ravines and badlands opens out, with orchards and olive groves along the river. The Cejo Cortado, a name meaning the cut brow, refers to a rocky escarpment with prehistoric shelters about seven kilometres from the town, between Mula, Albudeite and Ricote.
Read the complete Cejo Cortado I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 110 km into the recorded legs you reach Cejo Cortado I. Next is Cueva de las Conchas.
Cehegín's old town rises in a tight cluster of ochre houses and church towers on a hill above the Argos river, in the northwest of Murcia, and it is one of the best-preserved historic centres in the region, with narrow streets, noble houses and churches dating back to the sixteenth century. The Cueva de las Conchas, the cave of the shells, lies less than a kilometre from the town, and it is part of the rich network of prehistoric sites in this area, included in the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean rock art.
Read the complete Cueva de las Conchas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cueva de las Conchas, about halfway. Next is Cueva de los Pucheros.
North-west of Cieza, the Segura river cuts through a dry landscape of limestone ridges, almond and fruit orchards, and rice fields that look out of place in arid Murcia. The Cueva de los Pucheros, a rock shelter in these hills between Cieza and Calasparra, is one of the many sites in the region holding prehistoric paintings, part of the UNESCO-listed Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula. Like most of these shelters, it is fragile and often protected by a fence, and access may require a guided visit arranged through the local authorities.
Read the complete Cueva de los Pucheros write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cueva de los Pucheros sits at 162 km, about halfway. Next is back through Cueva de las Conchas.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cueva de las Conchas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Cueva de las Conchas comes up about 245 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Cejo Cortado I.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cejo Cortado I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 286 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Cejo Cortado I. Next is back through Cueva de la Plata.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cueva de la Plata write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Cueva de la Plata, late in the day. Next is Abrigo de la Esperilla.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo de la Esperilla write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 396 km.
Abrigo de la Esperilla → Cueva de la Plata is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cueva de la Plata → Cejo Cortado I is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cejo Cortado I → Cueva de las Conchas is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cueva de las Conchas → Cueva de los Pucheros is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cueva de los Pucheros → back through Cueva de las Conchas is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cueva de las Conchas → back through Cejo Cortado I is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cejo Cortado I → back through Cueva de la Plata is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cueva de la Plata → Abrigo de la Esperilla is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.