Abrigo de los Sabinares o Ventana de los E and Cueva de las Palamas
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
348 km
Riding-time estimate
6 h 53
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.
348 km from Nerpio to Nerpio, about 6 h 53 of riding. On the way it passes Gabar, Cueva de las Palamas and back through Gabar. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,400 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Abrigo de los Sabinares o Ventana de los E
The sabina is the Spanish juniper, a tough, aromatic tree that grows on the high limestone plateaus of the interior, and the Abrigo de los Sabinares, also called the Ventana de los E, lies in a country where junipers cover the slopes in dark green clumps. The shelter sits eight kilometres from Nerpio, in the high basin of the Sierra del Segura, and it is one of the cluster of painted rocks that UNESCO listed in 1998 as part of the Mediterranean arc. Its neighbours on the route, the Cueva de los Pucheros and the Abrigo de la Fuente, are in the same district.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abrigo de los Sabinares o Ventana de los E is where the day begins. Next is Gabar.
2. Gabar
High in the north of Almería province, far from the beaches most people associate with the name, the Sierra de María rises in grey limestone above a plateau of almond orchards and cereal fields. Gabar is a point in the hills between the villages of María and Vélez-Blanco, part of a cluster of rock-art shelters in the Los Vélez district. This corner of Spain is famous for one painted figure in particular: the Indalo, a little stick man holding an arc over his head, found in the Cueva de los Letreros just outside Vélez-Blanco. It has become the emblem of the whole province, painted on doors and sold as a lucky charm, which is a remarkable career for a prehistoric doodle.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Gabar comes up about 106 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.