Abrigo de la Higuera del Barranco de Ester and Galeria alta de la masia
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
469 km
Riding-time estimate
10 h 12
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.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Alcaine it runs 469 km to Alcaine; allow about 10 h 12 of riding. On the way it passes Abrigo del Barranco Hondo, Coveta de la Cornisa, Centelles- Abric I and Galeria alta de la masia. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,200 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Abrigo de la Higuera del Barranco de Ester
The Río Martín country of Teruel is a place of deep gorges and bare, honey-coloured hills, and Oliete and Estercuel are two of its tiny villages. The Abrigo de la Higuera del Barranco de Ester is a small shelter in a side ravine, named for the fig tree that grows at its mouth, and it holds paintings that belong to the rock art of the Mediterranean Basin, as protected by UNESCO. The pictures include the small red figures of the Levantine tradition, and the setting, under an overhang of golden rock, is a good place to sit and think about how few things have changed in the landscape.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abrigo de la Higuera del Barranco de Ester is where the day begins. Next is Abrigo del Barranco Hondo.
2. Abrigo del Barranco Hondo
Castellote is one of those villages in the Teruel Maestrazgo that seems to have been built by people who wanted to be left alone. Its houses pile up beneath a great rock wall topped by the ruins of a castle associated with the Knights Templar, and the Guadalope river winds below on its way into the Santolea reservoir. The Abrigo del Barranco Hondo, a painted rock shelter in a deep ravine outside the village, is part of the extensive collection of Levantine rock art scattered through these mountains, with small figures in red ochre that have survived on the stone for millennia.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abrigo del Barranco Hondo comes up 38 km in. Next is Coveta de la Cornisa.
3. Coveta de la Cornisa
Morella is one of the most dramatic towns in Spain: a walled medieval city wrapped around a conical hill, with a castle on the summit and its walls running unbroken around the base. It stands in the mountains of the Ports in the north of Castellón province, at around a thousand metres, and its silhouette, seen from the roads that climb toward it, is unforgettable. The Coveta de la Cornisa, the little cave of the ledge, lies in the hills about four kilometres away.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
76 km in you reach Coveta de la Cornisa. Next is Centelles- Abric I.
4. Centelles- Abric I
Albocàsser and Catí are two quiet stone towns in the inland hills of Castellón, and between them, in a rocky ravine, the Centelles shelters hold some of the prehistoric paintings that make this corner of Spain a capital of Levantine rock art. The style is distinctive: small human figures, often archers, painted in red with long legs and dynamic poses, hunting deer, ibex and boar, sometimes in groups, sometimes in battle. The sites are part of the UNESCO listing of Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula. Nearby, the Valltorta gorge, near Tírig, holds some of the most famous examples, and its museum explains the art and the people who made it.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Centelles- Abric I, about halfway. Next is Galeria alta de la masia.
5. Galeria alta de la masia
Morella is one of those hill towns that makes you pull over for a photograph before you even know what it is. Its castle crowns a steep crag, its walls run down the slope in a ragged line, and the old streets climb in a spiral to the top. It stands at around a thousand metres in the Els Ports highlands in northern Castellón, near the borders of Aragon and Catalonia, and the surrounding country is wide, cold, windswept and dotted with stone farmhouses. The rock shelters nearby preserve some of the most famous painted scenes of Levantine rock art, part of the Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula, listed by UNESCO in 1998.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 469 km.
Leg by leg
Abrigo de la Higuera del Barranco de Ester to Abrigo del Barranco Hondo
Abrigo de la Higuera del Barranco de Ester → Abrigo del Barranco Hondo is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo del Barranco Hondo to Coveta de la Cornisa
Abrigo del Barranco Hondo → Coveta de la Cornisa is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Coveta de la Cornisa to Centelles- Abric I
Coveta de la Cornisa → Centelles- Abric I is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Centelles- Abric I to Galeria alta de la masia
Centelles- Abric I → Galeria alta de la masia is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Galeria alta de la masia to back through Centelles- Abric I
Galeria alta de la masia → back through Centelles- Abric I is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Centelles- Abric I to back through Coveta de la Cornisa
back through Centelles- Abric I → back through Coveta de la Cornisa is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Coveta de la Cornisa to back through Abrigo del Barranco Hondo
back through Coveta de la Cornisa → back through Abrigo del Barranco Hondo is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abrigo del Barranco Hondo to Abrigo de la Higuera del Barranco de Ester
back through Abrigo del Barranco Hondo → Abrigo de la Higuera del Barranco de Ester is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.