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 Socovos it runs 363 km to Socovos; allow about 6 h 53 of riding. It goes by way of Central E. de Santonje, Cueva de la Plata and back through Central E. de Santonje. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,300 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Zaén is a quiet valley in the north-western corner of the Murcia region, in the municipality of Moratalla, where pine-covered sierras close in and the streams run clear and cold. The Abrigo de Zaén II is one of several painted rock shelters here, and like the others it belongs to the World Heritage Site of Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin, inscribed in 1998. Levantine art, found along the eastern side of the Iberian Peninsula, shows lively figures of humans and animals, often in scenes of hunting, gathering and, sometimes, conflict.
Read the complete Abrigo de Zaén II write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo de Zaén II is where the day begins. Next is Central E. de Santonje, 64 km on.
The Indalo, a little stick figure holding an arc over its head, is now the symbol of the whole province of Almería, painted on houses, cars and souvenirs, and it comes from a rock shelter here in the hills around Vélez-Blanco. The Cueva de los Letreros, a few kilometres from this point, holds the original among other paintings of the Levantine and schematic styles, and the shelters of the Sierra de María are part of the World Heritage Site of Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula, inscribed in 1998. Santonje, as the area is called, is one of a cluster of sites in these mountains.
Read the complete Central E. de Santonje write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Central E. de Santonje comes up about 77 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cueva de la Plata.
Aledo is a tiny village on a rocky spur in the hills of Murcia, a place that punches well above its weight in history. In the eleventh century, it was a fortress on the frontier between Christian Castile and the Muslim taifa kingdoms, and the siege of Aledo in 1088 was a major episode in the struggle for the peninsula. A tower still stands above the village. The Cueva de la Plata, the silver cave, lies in the hills nearby, between Aledo, Totana and Alhama de Murcia.
Read the complete Cueva de la Plata write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 182 km into the recorded legs you reach Cueva de la Plata. Next is back through Central E. de Santonje, 64 km on.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Central E. de Santonje write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Central E. de Santonje, late in the day. Next is Abrigo de Zaén II.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo de Zaén II write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Abrigo de Zaén II. That is the ride.
Abrigo de Zaén II → Central E. de Santonje is 77 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Central E. de Santonje → Cueva de la Plata is 105 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Cueva de la Plata → back through Central E. de Santonje is 104 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Central E. de Santonje → Abrigo de Zaén II is 77 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.