The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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 422 km round trip from Nerpio - roughly 8 h 22 in the saddle. On the way it passes Lavadero Tello III, Abrigo del milano and back through Lavadero Tello III. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,400 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Albrigo de Jutia I
Nerpio is about as far from anywhere as Spain gets. The village sits in the southern corner of the province of Albacete, where the Sierra de Segura and the mountains of Murcia and Granada meet, in a high valley cut by the Taibilla river. Around it, in the ravines and rock walls, are some of the most important prehistoric painted shelters in the country, and the Abrigo de Jutia is one of them. The Nerpio sites belong to the UNESCO-listed rock art of the Mediterranean Basin, and several of them, including the famous shelters of the Solana de las Covachas, show hunters, archers and animals painted in the Levantine style. Guided visits are organised from the village; ask locally about access and opening times, because the sites are protected and not all are open.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Albrigo de Jutia I is where the day begins. Next is Lavadero Tello III.
2. Lavadero Tello III
Los Vélez is a corner of Almería that most visitors to the coast never see: a high, dry country of pine forest, almond groves and pale limestone peaks, with the Sierra de María rising above two thousand metres. The Lavadero Tello, the washing place at Tello, is on the edge of that mountain land, near María and Vélez-Blanco, and the shelters of the area hold some of the most famous paintings in southern Spain. At the Cueva de los Letreros, near Vélez-Blanco, a small figure with outstretched arms holding a rainbow-like shape is the Indalo, adopted as the symbol of Almería and painted on houses across the province.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Lavadero Tello III comes up 64 km in. Next is Abrigo del milano.
3. Abrigo del milano
Bullas is wine country, and the vineyards of Monastrell grapes roll over the hills around the town in the northwest of Murcia, producing robust red wines under their own denomination of origin. The Abrigo del Milano, the kite's shelter, named after the bird of prey that circles over these hills, lies in the countryside between Bullas, Mula and Pliego. It is one of the many rock shelters in Murcia with prehistoric paintings, part of the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean rock art, though access to many shelters is restricted to protect them, so ask locally before trying to visit.