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.
A 432 km round trip from Millares - roughly 6 h 27 in the saddle. It goes by way of Cueva de la Vieja, Abrigo del Buen Aire I and back through Cueva de la Vieja. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 850 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Millares is a village of fewer than six hundred people in the interior of Valencia province, and the whole district feels like a place the twentieth century forgot to modernise. The land is a mix of limestone gorges, dry terraces and pine forest, with the Júcar river running through a deep canyon to the south, and the reservoirs of Cortes and Naranjero lighting the valley floor with turquoise water. The roads wind through small farming settlements, past carob and olive trees, and the silence is often broken only by the bells of a flock of goats.
Read the complete Abrigo de las Cañas I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo de las Cañas I is where the day begins. Next is Cueva de la Vieja.
In 1910 a local man led researchers to a shallow shelter above the plain of Alpera in Albacete, and the paintings they found there became some of the best known examples of Levantine rock art in Spain. The Cueva de la Vieja shows archers with feathered headdresses, women in long skirts, deer and goats, all painted with a sense of movement that still feels immediate. The nearby Cueva del Queso holds more figures. Both are part of the UNESCO listing for the rock art of the Iberian Mediterranean, and guided visits run from the village, so check times with Alpera's tourist office.
Read the complete Cueva de la Vieja write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cueva de la Vieja comes up about 120 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abrigo del Buen Aire I.
Jumilla country is dry, wide and honest. The town sits in the far north of Murcia where it bulges up towards Albacete, surrounded by limestone sierras, almond groves and vineyards of Monastrell grapes that make some of the most powerful red wine in Spain. A few kilometres outside town, in the folds of these hills, lie a group of small rock shelters known as the Abrigos del Buen Aire. They belong to the long chain of prehistoric painted sites strung along the eastern side of the peninsula that UNESCO lists together as the rock art of the Mediterranean Basin.
Read the complete Abrigo del Buen Aire I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 216 km into the recorded legs you reach Abrigo del Buen Aire I. Next is back through Cueva de la Vieja.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cueva de la Vieja write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Cueva de la Vieja, late in the day. Next is Abrigo de las Cañas I.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo de las Cañas I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Abrigo de las Cañas I. That is the ride.
Abrigo de las Cañas I → Cueva de la Vieja is 120 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cueva de la Vieja → Abrigo del Buen Aire I is 96 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Abrigo del Buen Aire I → back through Cueva de la Vieja is 95 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Cueva de la Vieja → Abrigo de las Cañas I is 121 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.