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.
An 831 km round trip from Nerpio - roughly 19 h 02 in the saddle. The stops in between: Diosa madre, Cañada de la Cruz, Abrigo del.melgar and Úbeda. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,400 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
High in the Sierra de Segura, where Albacete, Murcia and Jaén meet, the Taibilla river cuts a deep valley through limestone mountains, and the cliffs and shelters along its banks hide some of the finest prehistoric paintings in Spain. The Abrigo de la Ventana, the window shelter, is one of them, near the village of Nerpio, and it is part of the World Heritage site of Levantine rock art.
Read the complete Abrigo de la Ventana I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo de la Ventana I is where the day begins. Next is Diosa madre.
Some places on a map feel remote; this one actually is. The point named Diosa Madre, mother goddess, lies in the mountains of the Sierra de Segura, in the far southwest of Albacete province, roughly sixteen kilometres from Yeste and not far from the border with Jaén. The mountains themselves are the real experience.
Read the complete Diosa madre write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Diosa madre comes up about 156 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cañada de la Cruz.
The Cañada de la Cruz is a high valley or drovers' pasture in the Segura mountains; cañada is the word for the traditional livestock routes and grazing grounds used by shepherds moving their flocks between summer and winter pastures, and this part of Spain has a long history of transhumance.
Read the complete Cañada de la Cruz write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 221 km into the recorded legs you reach Cañada de la Cruz. Next is Abrigo del.melgar, 45 km on.
Quesada is a white town at the foot of the Sierra de Cazorla, in the province of Jaén, surrounded by an ocean of olive trees. The groves stretch to the horizon in every direction, a landscape that makes Jaén the world's largest producer of olive oil. Behind the town, the mountains rise steeply, with pine forest and limestone cliffs, and the Guadalquivir river has its source not far away. The Abrigo del Melgar lies in the hills just outside the town.
Read the complete Abrigo del.melgar write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo del.melgar, about halfway. Next is Úbeda.
In the middle of an ocean of olive trees, Úbeda rises on a ridge like a Renaissance city that took a wrong turn on its way to Florence. This town in the province of Jaén, along with its neighbour Baeza, was listed by UNESCO in 2003 for its sixteenth-century architecture, much of it the work of Andrés de Vandelvira, who built palaces, churches and chapels for wealthy noble families and royal officials. The Plaza Vázquez de Molina is the showpiece, a harmonious square lined with palaces and the extraordinary Sacra Capilla del Salvador, a funerary chapel built for Francisco de los Cobos, secretary to Emperor Charles V.
Read the complete Úbeda write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Úbeda sits at 181 km, about halfway. Next is back through Abrigo del.melgar, 45 km on.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo del.melgar write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Abrigo del.melgar comes up about 463 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Cañada de la Cruz.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cañada de la Cruz write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 608 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Cañada de la Cruz. Next is back through Diosa madre.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Diosa madre write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Diosa madre, late in the day. Next is Abrigo de la Ventana I.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo de la Ventana I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 831 km.
Abrigo de la Ventana I → Diosa madre is 156 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Diosa madre → Cañada de la Cruz is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cañada de la Cruz → Abrigo del.melgar is 128 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo del.melgar → Úbeda is 67 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Úbeda → back through Abrigo del.melgar is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abrigo del.melgar → back through Cañada de la Cruz is 145 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cañada de la Cruz → back through Diosa madre is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Diosa madre → Abrigo de la Ventana I is 165 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.