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 370 km to Nerpio; allow about 7 h 25 of riding. The stops in between: Abrigo del molino de Bagil, 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.
The Covachos, the little caves, are a short ride from Nerpio, a mountain village of about sixteen hundred people in the south-west of Albacete province, in the headwaters of the Segura river. The shelter is one of dozens in this district, which has one of the densest concentrations of prehistoric painting in Spain, in both the Levantine style and the later schematic one. UNESCO protects the Levantine sites as part of the Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula. What makes Nerpio special is that the paintings are scattered through a living landscape of farms, springs and sheep tracks, so you may find yourself looking at a thousands-year-old figure with a shepherd's dog watching from the next rock.
Read the complete Abrigo de los Covachos write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo de los Covachos is where the day begins. Next is Abrigo del molino de Bagil.
The northwest of Murcia is a world away from the coastal resorts. Around Moratalla, the land rises into the mountains that form the southern edge of the Sierra de Segura, a rugged country of pine forests, deep river valleys, terraced hillsides and white villages perched on rocks. The Abrigo del Molino de Bagil is one of the many rock shelters in this area that contain prehistoric paintings, part of the UNESCO listing of the rock art of the Mediterranean Basin. Moratalla and its neighbours have an especially rich collection, with scenes of hunters, archers and animals painted in the Levantine style thousands of years ago. Many shelters are protected by fences, and visits are possible only with guides or by arrangement.
Read the complete Abrigo del molino de Bagil write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo del molino de Bagil comes up about 43 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 101 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 149 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 232 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 270 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Cueva de las Palamas. Next is back through Abrigo del molino de Bagil.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo del molino de Bagil write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Abrigo del molino de Bagil, late in the day. Next is Abrigo de los Covachos.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo de los Covachos write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 370 km.
Abrigo de los Covachos → Abrigo del molino de Bagil is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo del molino de Bagil → Cueva de las Palamas is 58 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 Abrigo del molino de Bagil is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abrigo del molino de Bagil → Abrigo de los Covachos is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.