Why this ride
A 366 km round trip from Calasparra - roughly 6 h 40 in the saddle. The stops in between: Barranco de la mortaja I, Cueva del Peliciego, Olula and Abric de Gontrán. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Abrigo del Paso and Abric de Gontrán
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 366 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 40
- 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.
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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Abrigo del Paso
Calasparra is a rice town, which is not what most people expect of inland Murcia. The rice grown here, in terraced paddies along the Segura and Mundo rivers, was the first in Spain to receive a protected designation of origin, and it is prized for absorbing flavour without turning to mush, so paella cooks prefer it. The paddies shimmer green in summer and gold in autumn, with herons and egrets feeding in the flooded fields, and behind them rise bare limestone hills, so the effect is of a patch of Asia dropped onto a dry Spanish landscape.
Read the complete Abrigo del Paso write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abrigo del Paso is where the day begins. Next is Barranco de la mortaja I.
2. Barranco de la mortaja I
Hellín is a sizeable town of thirty thousand in the south-east of Albacete province, a dry, open country of hills, almond groves and stony plains that belongs more to Murcia than to La Mancha in feeling. The Barranco de la Mortaja is a ravine in the sandstone hills near the town, and the shelter that gives this stop its name belongs to the rock art of the Mediterranean Basin, a group of sites that UNESCO listed in 1998. The region is among the best for early paintings, with the shelters of Minateda close by, where figures of hunters and animals, in red and black, were painted on the walls of rock overhangs thousands of years ago.
Read the complete Barranco de la mortaja I write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Barranco de la mortaja I comes up about 43 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cueva del Peliciego.
3. Cueva del Peliciego
Jumilla is wine. This town in the north of Murcia sits in a high, dry valley surrounded by bare mountains, and its vineyards, planted with the Monastrell grape, produce powerful red wines under the Jumilla designation of origin, one of the oldest in Spain. The Cueva del Peliciego, a rock shelter in the hills near the town, holds prehistoric paintings in the Levantine style, and it has been known since the early twentieth century, when it was one of the first rock art sites studied in the region.
Read the complete Cueva del Peliciego write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 78 km into the recorded legs you reach Cueva del Peliciego. Next is Olula.
4. Olula
Caudete and Almansa sit in a corridor of land where Castile-La Mancha, Valencia and Murcia meet, and for centuries this was frontier country, where kingdoms and armies passed and fought. Olula is a point in the hills near Caudete, linked on the rides with rock-art shelters in the surrounding sierras, part of the extensive UNESCO listing of prehistoric art in Mediterranean Spain.
Read the complete Olula write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Olula, about halfway. Next is Abric de Gontrán.
5. 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.
Read the complete Abric de Gontrán write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abric de Gontrán sits at 155 km, about halfway. Next is back through Olula.
6. back through Olula
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Olula write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Olula comes up about 228 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Cueva del Peliciego.
7. back through Cueva del Peliciego
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cueva del Peliciego write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 289 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Cueva del Peliciego. Next is back through Barranco de la mortaja I.
8. back through Barranco de la mortaja I
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Barranco de la mortaja I write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Barranco de la mortaja I, late in the day. Next is Abrigo del Paso.
9. Abrigo del Paso
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo del Paso write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 366 km.
Leg by leg
Abrigo del Paso to Barranco de la mortaja I
Abrigo del Paso → Barranco de la mortaja I is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Barranco de la mortaja I to Cueva del Peliciego
Barranco de la mortaja I → Cueva del Peliciego is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cueva del Peliciego to Olula
Cueva del Peliciego → Olula is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Olula to Abric de Gontrán
Olula → Abric de Gontrán is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abric de Gontrán to back through Olula
Abric de Gontrán → back through Olula is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Olula to back through Cueva del Peliciego
back through Olula → back through Cueva del Peliciego is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cueva del Peliciego to back through Barranco de la mortaja I
back through Cueva del Peliciego → back through Barranco de la mortaja I is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Barranco de la mortaja I to Abrigo del Paso
back through Barranco de la mortaja I → Abrigo del Paso is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
More motorcycle rides nearby
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- Arco I and Abric de Gontrán · 364 km