Abrigo del Huerto de las Tajadas and La Hoz de Vicente
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
310 km
Riding-time estimate
5 h 08
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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.
A 310 km round trip from Bezas - roughly 5 h 08 in the saddle. On the way it passes Castellón de los machos, La Hoz de Vicente and back through Castellón de los machos. 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 del Huerto de las Tajadas
Albarracín is one of the loveliest villages in Spain, a town of pink-ochre houses on a rock bend above the Guadalaviar river, with medieval walls climbing the hill behind. The Sierra de Albarracín around it is high and cold, at about 1,200 metres, a land of pine forest, red sandstone outcrops called rodeno, and wide empty plateaus. The Guadalaviar, which becomes the Turia in Valencia, rises in these hills, and the Tagus and the Júcar are not far from their sources. The rock shelters of this region, including the Huerto de las Tajadas, hold some of the oldest paintings of the Levantine and Schematic styles, and they are part of the Mediterranean-arc group UNESCO listed in 1998.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abrigo del Huerto de las Tajadas is where the day begins. Next is Castellón de los machos.
2. Castellón de los machos
High in the Serranía de Cuenca, among pine woods and sandstone outcrops near the village of Villar del Humo, prehistoric hunters painted figures on the rock shelters thousands of years ago. The site called Castellón de los Machos is one of a cluster in this area that belongs to the vast UNESCO listing of rock art of the Mediterranean Basin of the Iberian Peninsula, which covers hundreds of painted shelters from Catalonia to Andalusia. The images here are small, reddish and stylised, and finding them takes patience and good eyes.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Castellón de los machos comes up 70 km in. Next is La Hoz de Vicente.
3. La Hoz de Vicente
The Cabriel is one of the few rivers in Spain that still runs clean and fast through a deep canyon, and the Hoz de Vicente stands on its upper stretch, where Cuenca meets Valencia. The Hoces del Cabriel are a natural park of limestone gorges, pine woods and river flats, with kingfishers, otters and, on the rock faces, griffon vultures. The Hoz de Vicente shelter is one of the painted places of this wild corner, a Levantine rock art site listed within the UNESCO group of the Mediterranean Basin.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Abrigo del Huerto de las Tajadas. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Abrigo del Huerto de las Tajadas to Castellón de los machos
Abrigo del Huerto de las Tajadas → Castellón de los machos is 70 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Castellón de los machos to La Hoz de Vicente
Castellón de los machos → La Hoz de Vicente is 70 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
La Hoz de Vicente to back through Castellón de los machos
La Hoz de Vicente → back through Castellón de los machos is 70 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Castellón de los machos to Abrigo del Huerto de las Tajadas
back through Castellón de los machos → Abrigo del Huerto de las Tajadas is 70 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.