Abrigo de la Vacada and Abrigo del Plano del Pulido
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
371 km
Riding-time estimate
9 h 12
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.
A 371 km round trip from Bordón - roughly 9 h 12 in the saddle. On the way it passes Valmayor V, Abrigo del Plano del Pulido and back through Valmayor V. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,250 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Abrigo de la Vacada
Castellote is a hill town in the Maestrazgo, the high, dry and wonderfully empty country of southern Aragon, and the shelter of La Vacada lies among the limestone gorges nearby. The name suggests a place where cattle were gathered. The area has some of the finest Levantine rock art in Teruel, and the figures here are part of the Mediterranean-arc ensemble UNESCO recognised in 1998: slender red archers, deer and sometimes a hunting scene, painted on the walls of shallow caves. The rock is pale and the cliffs are cut by the river Guadalope, which carves a sequence of narrow canyons through the plateau.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abrigo de la Vacada is where the day begins. Next is Valmayor V.
2. Valmayor V
The Matarraña, in the far east of Teruel province, is often called the Tuscany of Aragon, and for once the comparison holds. Stone villages crown hilltops above olive groves and vineyards, rivers run clear through limestone gorges, and the light in the evening is honey-coloured. Valmayor is a ravine in the hills here, between Valderrobres, Fuentespalda and the Catalan border, and its shelters hold prehistoric paintings, part of the UNESCO-listed Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin. As elsewhere, they are protected, and visits are best arranged through local tourist offices.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Valmayor V comes up about 101 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abrigo del Plano del Pulido.
3. Abrigo del Plano del Pulido
South of Caspe, the lower Aragón country is a dry, sculpted landscape of ochre hills, flat-topped mesas and gullies cut into soft sandstone, with almond and olive groves clinging to the valley floors. In these sandstone outcrops, prehistoric people found shelter and left paintings, and the Abrigo del Plano del Pulido is one of the rock shelters of the area included in the World Heritage site of the rock art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula. The painted figures, in the reddish tones of Levantine art, are small and faded, and as at most of these sites, access is controlled and visits may need to be arranged in advance.