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.
366 km from Velez Rubio to Velez Rubio, about 7 h 01 of riding. It goes by way of Abrigo de la Ventana I, Cañada de la Cruz and back through Abrigo de la Ventana I. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,400 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Abrigo de los Gavilanes
Gavilanes means sparrowhawks, and the name fits a shelter high on a limestone face above the dry country where Murcia meets Almería. The Abrigo de los Gavilanes lies in the hills west of Lorca, in an area scattered with painted shelters such as the Collado de la Cruz and Los Grajos, the jackdaws, and it is part of the World Heritage Site of Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula. The figures are small, red and schematic, painted by communities who farmed and herded here thousands of years ago.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abrigo de los Gavilanes is where the day begins. Next is Abrigo de la Ventana I.
2. Abrigo de la Ventana I
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abrigo de la Ventana I comes up about 73 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cañada de la Cruz.
3. 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.