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 198 km to Nerpio; allow about 4 h 03 of riding. The stops in between: Abrigo del Sabinar, Benizar V, Cueva de las Palamas and back through Benizar V. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,400 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
High in the south-east of Albacete province, where the Sierra de Segura meets the Granada highlands, the land turns to pine, juniper and bare limestone ridges, and the village of Nerpio sits in a basin about six kilometres from this stop. The name means the rock shelter of Taibona Castle, and it is one of a cluster of painted overhangs around Nerpio, among the densest groups of rock art in Spain. Hunters, deer and goats were drawn in red on the shelter walls long before anyone built a castle on the crag above, and the whole group counts among the Mediterranean Basin rock art that UNESCO protects. Because the paint is delicate, access is controlled and the shelters are best visited through the local interpretation arrangements rather than by wandering up a slope, so ask in Nerpio before you set out.
Read the complete Abrigo del Castillo de Taibona write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo del Castillo de Taibona is where the day begins. Next is Abrigo del Sabinar.
The Abrigo del Sabinar lies in the remote mountains of north-western Murcia, near Moratalla, where the Sierra de Segura and the Sierra del Taibilla meet, and its paintings of human figures and animals, including deer and goats, are among the finest examples of Levantine rock art in the region. The shelter is part of the Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin listing, and the area around Moratalla and Nerpio is particularly rich in painted shelters. The landscape is wild and rugged, with pine forests, limestone cliffs and deep river valleys, and the villages are few and far between.
Read the complete Abrigo del Sabinar write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo del Sabinar comes up about 25 km into the recorded legs. Next is Benizar V.
Benizar is one of those places that only a handful of maps bother to name. It is a hamlet belonging to Moratalla, in the hilly north-west of the Murcia region, close to where the province meets Albacete and the first ridges of the Sierra de Segura begin. Around it, in the rock faces and gullies, archaeologists have recorded a cluster of painted shelters, and Benizar V is one in this series: a stone overhang with faint prehistoric figures, part of the Levantine rock art that runs along Spain's eastern mountains.
Read the complete Benizar V write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 48 km into the recorded legs you reach Benizar V. 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.
Cueva de las Palamas, about halfway. Next is back through Benizar V.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Benizar V write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Benizar V sits at 111 km, about halfway. Next is back through Abrigo del Sabinar.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo del Sabinar write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Abrigo del Sabinar comes up about 173 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abrigo del Castillo de Taibona.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo del Castillo de Taibona write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo del Castillo de Taibona closes the day.
Abrigo del Castillo de Taibona → Abrigo del Sabinar is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo del Sabinar → Benizar V is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Benizar V → Cueva de las Palamas is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cueva de las Palamas → back through Benizar V is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Benizar V → back through Abrigo del Sabinar is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abrigo del Sabinar → Abrigo del Castillo de Taibona is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.