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 Alpera it runs 287 km to Alpera; allow about 6 h 58 of riding. The stops in between: Barranco del Cabezo del moro, Abric de Gontrán, Penya roja o Ulls de Canals and back through Abric de Gontrán. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 850 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Abrigo I
Here the wide plains of La Mancha begin to tilt towards the coast, and the country turns into a patchwork of vineyards, cereal fields and low, pine-covered ridges. Alpera, Carcelén and Alatoz are small villages in the east of Albacete province, close to the border with Valencia, and the landscape has a high, windy character with big skies and few trees on the open ground. The Júcar river runs through a deeper, more broken country to the south, with canyons and reservoirs that give the otherwise dry terrain a green edge.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abrigo I is where the day begins. Next is Barranco del Cabezo del moro.
2. Barranco del Cabezo del moro
Almansa is one of those towns you see from the motorway and do not stop at, and that is a mistake. Its castle is spectacular, a Gothic fortress built on a sharp limestone outcrop right in the middle of town, looking exactly like a child's drawing of a castle. Around it spreads a wide plain at about seven hundred metres, the meeting point of the Valencian, Murcian and Castilian lands, and a few kilometres out in the surrounding hills lies the ravine known as the Barranco del Cabezo del Moro.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Barranco del Cabezo del moro comes up about 45 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.