Abrigo de las Cañadas I and Abrigo del Canto Blanco
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
342 km
Riding-time estimate
6 h 29
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.
342 km from Nerpio to Nerpio, about 6 h 29 of riding. The stops in between: Fuensanta II, Cueva de las Palamas, Cueva de los Pucheros and Abrigo del Canto Blanco. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,450 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Abrigo de las Cañadas I
High up in the Sierra del Segura, where the province of Albacete meets Granada and Jaén, the village of Nerpio sits at around eleven hundred metres in a country of oak, pine and bare limestone. The Abrigo de las Cañadas, a rock shelter, lies about twelve kilometres from the village among its dry gullies, in one of the most thinly settled corners of Castilla-La Mancha.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abrigo de las Cañadas I is where the day begins. Next is Fuensanta II.
2. 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fuensanta II comes up about 49 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cueva de las Palamas.
3. 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 87 km into the recorded legs you reach Cueva de las Palamas. Next is Cueva de los Pucheros.
4. 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cueva de los Pucheros, about halfway. Next is Abrigo del Canto Blanco.
5. 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.