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.
From Nerpio it runs 323 km to Nerpio; allow about 5 h 43 of riding. On the way it passes Fuensanta II, Cueva de las Palamas, Cueva de los Pucheros and Abrigo del Canto Blanco. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,400 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Segura de la Sierra is a village that looks like a stage set, and it is real. It sits on a conical hill above the olive groves of the upper Guadalimar valley, crowned by a castle, with narrow lanes of whitewashed houses winding up to the walls, and from the top the view takes in miles of olives, pine-covered ridges and distant sierras. The castle was a stronghold of the Order of Santiago, the knightly order that held much of this frontier in the Middle Ages. It has a Moorish bath house, restored and open to the public, a bullring built into the rock, and a medieval keep.
Read the complete Abrigo de la Viñuela write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo de la Viñuela is where the day begins. Next is Fuensanta II.
Fuensanta II is the sort of name only an archaeologist could love, a numbered rock shelter in the hills of northwest Murcia where prehistoric painters left a handful of figures on the stone. It is one of the hundreds of sites grouped under UNESCO's listing of rock art in the Mediterranean Basin of the Iberian Peninsula, and the Moratalla area is unusually rich in them. The paintings are small, faint to the untrained eye and protected, so the real value of coming is to understand the landscape that drew people here thousands of years ago: springs, shelter and game in rough, broken country.
Read the complete Fuensanta II write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fuensanta II comes up about 39 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cueva de las Palamas.
Cehegín, in the north-west of the Murcia region, is a town of two faces: a modern lower town, and an old town on a hill, with steep streets, noble houses and churches, declared a historic site. The Cueva de las Palomas, the cave of the doves, lies on the edge of the town, less than a kilometre from the centre, with the larger town of Caravaca de la Cruz about five kilometres away.
Read the complete Cueva de las Palamas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 77 km into the recorded legs you reach Cueva de las Palamas. 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, about halfway. Next is Abrigo del Canto Blanco.
Jumilla is wine country, and you know it as soon as you arrive. The town sits in the north of the Murcia region, surrounded by a high, dry plateau of vineyards growing the Monastrell grape, which produces powerful, dark red wines. A castle tops the hill above the old town, and the bodegas on its outskirts welcome visitors. The Abrigo del Canto Blanco, the shelter of the white stone, lies in the hills about five kilometres away.
Read the complete Abrigo del Canto Blanco write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo del Canto Blanco sits at 146 km, about halfway. Next is back through Cueva de los Pucheros.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cueva de los Pucheros write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Cueva de los Pucheros comes up about 208 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Cueva de las Palamas.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cueva de las Palamas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 246 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Cueva de las Palamas. Next is back through Fuensanta II.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fuensanta II write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fuensanta II, late in the day. Next is Abrigo de la Viñuela.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo de la Viñuela write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 323 km.
Abrigo de la Viñuela → Fuensanta II is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fuensanta II → Cueva de las Palamas is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cueva de las Palamas → Cueva de los Pucheros is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cueva de los Pucheros → Abrigo del Canto Blanco is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo del Canto Blanco → back through Cueva de los Pucheros is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cueva de los Pucheros → back through Cueva de las Palamas is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cueva de las Palamas → back through Fuensanta II is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fuensanta II → Abrigo de la Viñuela is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.