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.
A 355 km round trip from Montealegre del Castillo - roughly 6 h 34 in the saddle. On the way it passes Abrigo del Canto Blanco, Abrigo de las Enredaderas, Cueva de las Conchas and Fuensanta II. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,200 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
North of Yecla, where the Murcia region meets Albacete, the land rises into a series of isolated limestone hills above a wide, dry plain of vineyards and almond groves. The rock shelters scattered through this country, including the Abrigo del Mediodía, are part of the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean Iberian rock art. The best known cluster is on Monte Arabí, a striking, isolated rock mountain north of the town, whose Cantos de la Visera shelters hold both Levantine and schematic paintings.
Read the complete Abrigo del mediodía I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo del mediodía I is where the day begins. Next is Abrigo del Canto Blanco.
Jumilla is wine country, and you know it as soon as you arrive. The town sits in the north of the Murcia region, surrounded by a high, dry plateau of vineyards growing the Monastrell grape, which produces powerful, dark red wines. A castle tops the hill above the old town, and the bodegas on its outskirts welcome visitors. The Abrigo del Canto Blanco, the shelter of the white stone, lies in the hills about five kilometres away.
Read the complete Abrigo del Canto Blanco write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo del Canto Blanco comes up about 38 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abrigo de las Enredaderas.
Where the Río Segura squeezes through the sandstone and limestone ridges of northern Murcia, between Calasparra and Cieza, the valley turns into a canyon of orange and grey rock with narrow green strips of reeds and orchard along the water. The Abrigo de las Enredaderas, a rock shelter, lies twelve kilometres or so from both towns, in dry hills of pine, rosemary and esparto grass that smell sharply of resin on a hot day.
Read the complete Abrigo de las Enredaderas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 83 km into the recorded legs you reach Abrigo de las Enredaderas. Next is Cueva de las Conchas.
Cehegín's old town rises in a tight cluster of ochre houses and church towers on a hill above the Argos river, in the northwest of Murcia, and it is one of the best-preserved historic centres in the region, with narrow streets, noble houses and churches dating back to the sixteenth century. The Cueva de las Conchas, the cave of the shells, lies less than a kilometre from the town, and it is part of the rich network of prehistoric sites in this area, included in the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean rock art.
Read the complete Cueva de las Conchas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cueva de las Conchas, about halfway. Next is Fuensanta II.
Fuensanta II is the sort of name only an archaeologist could love, a numbered rock shelter in the hills of northwest Murcia where prehistoric painters left a handful of figures on the stone. It is one of the hundreds of sites grouped under UNESCO's listing of rock art in the Mediterranean Basin of the Iberian Peninsula, and the Moratalla area is unusually rich in them. The paintings are small, faint to the untrained eye and protected, so the real value of coming is to understand the landscape that drew people here thousands of years ago: springs, shelter and game in rough, broken country.
Read the complete Fuensanta II write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fuensanta II sits at 151 km, about halfway. Next is back through Cueva de las Conchas.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cueva de las Conchas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Cueva de las Conchas comes up about 216 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Abrigo de las Enredaderas.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo de las Enredaderas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 272 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Abrigo de las Enredaderas. Next is back through Abrigo del Canto Blanco.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo del Canto Blanco write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Abrigo del Canto Blanco, late in the day. Next is Abrigo del mediodía I.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo del mediodía I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 355 km.
Abrigo del mediodía I → Abrigo del Canto Blanco is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo del Canto Blanco → Abrigo de las Enredaderas is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo de las Enredaderas → Cueva de las Conchas is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cueva de las Conchas → Fuensanta II is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fuensanta II → back through Cueva de las Conchas is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cueva de las Conchas → back through Abrigo de las Enredaderas is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abrigo de las Enredaderas → back through Abrigo del Canto Blanco is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abrigo del Canto Blanco → Abrigo del mediodía I is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.