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CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE

Abside and Abrigo de los Arqueros Negros

Plan this ride

Recorded distance
145 km
Riding-time estimate
2 h 34
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.

Open this ride in CurveScout

Why this ride

A 145 km round trip from Calatayud - roughly 2 h 34 in the saddle. It goes by way of Iglesia de Santa María, Abrigo de los Arqueros Negros and back through Iglesia de Santa María. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,050 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. 1. Abside

    The apse in question belongs to the collegiate church of Santa María in Calatayud, and it is one of the reasons UNESCO lists the Mudéjar architecture of Aragon as a whole. Mudéjar means the building style of Muslim craftsmen living under Christian rule after the reconquest, and in Calatayud they did wonderful things with humble brick: geometric patterns, lozenges and interlacing arches laid out in relief, glazed tiles catching the sun. Next to the apse rises an octagonal brick tower that is the town's signature, and behind it a cloister, all three named in the listing.

    Read the complete Abside write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Abside is where the day begins. Next is Iglesia de Santa María.

  2. 2. Iglesia de Santa María

    Somewhere in the folds of the Sierra de Algairén, south-west of Zaragoza, a bell tower pokes up above a cluster of ochre roofs, and that is your Iglesia de Santa María. Half the villages of Aragon have a church of that name, and this one does the job the others do: it marks the middle of a small place where the shop, the bar and the plaza all orbit the same square of stone. The nearest neighbours on the map are Cosuenda, Almonacid de la Sierra and Alpartir, each a few hundred souls, each about nine kilometres off.

    Read the complete Iglesia de Santa María write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Iglesia de Santa María comes up about 35 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abrigo de los Arqueros Negros.

  3. 3. Abrigo de los Arqueros Negros

    The prehistoric painters of eastern Spain had a thing for archers. Across hundreds of rock shelters from Catalonia to Andalusia, they painted small, dynamic human figures drawing bows, chasing deer and goats, sometimes fighting each other, and these scenes of the so-called Levantine style are part of the UNESCO listing of rock art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula. Shelters with names like the Abrigo de los Arqueros Negros, the shelter of the black archers, are scattered through the limestone hills of the province of Teruel and its neighbours in Aragon, often in remote ravines and protected by grilles.

    Read the complete Abrigo de los Arqueros Negros write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    about 73 km into the recorded legs you reach Abrigo de los Arqueros Negros. Next is back through Iglesia de Santa María.

  4. 4. back through Iglesia de Santa María

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Iglesia de Santa María write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    back through Iglesia de Santa María, late in the day. Next is Abside.

  5. 5. Abside

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Abside write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Back at Abside. That is the ride.

Leg by leg

Abside to Iglesia de Santa María

Abside → Iglesia de Santa María is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Iglesia de Santa María to Abrigo de los Arqueros Negros

Iglesia de Santa María → Abrigo de los Arqueros Negros is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Abrigo de los Arqueros Negros to back through Iglesia de Santa María

Abrigo de los Arqueros Negros → back through Iglesia de Santa María is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Iglesia de Santa María to Abside

back through Iglesia de Santa María → Abside is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

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