Abrigo del mal Paso and Penya roja o Ulls de Canals
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
284 km
Riding-time estimate
7 h 25
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.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Millares it runs 284 km to Millares; allow about 7 h 25 of riding. It goes by way of Abric del Garrofero, Abric de Gontrán, Penya roja o Ulls de Canals and back through Abric de Gontrán. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Abrigo del mal Paso
The Júcar is the river behind this stop, though you cannot see it from the shelter. Millares is a village of about five hundred people in the broken hill country of inland Valencia, not far from where the great river runs out of the mountains and into the reservoir at Tous. The country around is a labyrinth of gorges, ravines and small plateaux, cut by the Júcar and its tributaries, with pine woods on the slopes and bare limestone on the tops.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abrigo del mal Paso is where the day begins. Next is Abric del Garrofero.
2. Abric del Garrofero
Bicorp is a small village in the Canal de Navarrés, a valley in the interior of Valencia province walled in by rugged mountains and deep ravines. The surrounding Macizo del Caroig is one of the largest wild areas in the Valencian Community, a vast tableland of pine, scrub and gorges cut by the Júcar's tributaries. The Abric del Garrofero, the shelter of the carob tree, lies in the hills near Bicorp, Quesa and Navarrés.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abric del Garrofero comes up about 53 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abric de Gontrán.
3. Abric de Gontrán
Head south-west from Xàtiva along the old road to Castile and you climb gently into a corridor between two mountain ranges, the Serra Grossa on one side and the Serra de Enguera on the other. The town of Moixent sits where the corridor narrows, with Vallada just downstream and the vineyards of Fontanars dels Alforins on the plateau beyond. The Abric de Gontran lies in the hills just outside Moixent.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 99 km into the recorded legs you reach Abric de Gontrán. Next is Penya roja o Ulls de Canals.
4. Penya roja o Ulls de Canals
This is the country of toys and herbs, an unusual pairing. Onil and Ibi, in the inland hills of Alicante, grew up as centres of toy-making, starting with tin and later plastic, and the local museum in Ibi tells how a mountain valley became a world supplier of dolls and games. On the other side, the Sierra de Mariola, a natural park rich in aromatic plants, supplies the herbs for a local liqueur and for traditional remedies. Bocairent, a handsome old town on a rocky spur, has houses built right at the edge of a gorge and a set of man-made caves carved into the cliff, the Covetes dels Moros.