Why this ride
A 133 km round trip from El Campello - roughly 2 h 30 in the saddle. The stops in between: Cueva de las Arañas del Carabassi, Palmeral of Elche and back through Cueva de las Arañas del Carabassi.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Arroyo de martín Pérez and Palmeral of Elche
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 133 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 30
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Arroyo de martín Pérez
Behind the Costa Blanca's hotel towers there is a quite different country, dry, stony and mostly empty, and the Arroyo de Martín Pérez belongs to it. An arroyo is a gully that stays dry for most of the year, and here, on the hills inland from El Campello and San Juan de Alicante, it carries the water away when the rains arrive. Those rains, when they come, come hard. Autumn storms on this coast can drop a month's water in a few hours, and the gullies fill suddenly, so check the forecast before you go poking about dry beds.
Read the complete Arroyo de martín Pérez write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Arroyo de martín Pérez is where the day begins. Next is Cueva de las Arañas del Carabassi.
2. Cueva de las Arañas del Carabassi
The Carabassí is one of the last stretches of wild-ish coast between Alicante and Santa Pola: a line of dunes held together by pine and marram grass, a long beach, and the sea glittering under the flight path of Alicante airport. In the low rocky ground behind it lies a small cave known for painted marks, the Cueva de las Arañas del Carabassí, close to the village of El Altet and a short hop from Santa Pola.
Read the complete Cueva de las Arañas del Carabassi write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cueva de las Arañas del Carabassi comes up 29 km in. Next is Palmeral of Elche.
3. Palmeral of Elche
Riding into Elche from the dry hills of southern Alicante, the sudden forest of date palms feels like a mistake of geography, as if a piece of North Africa had been set down in Spain. In a sense it was. The palm groves were laid out in their present form during the Islamic period, when Arab settlers brought an irrigation system of channels fed by the Vinalopó river and arranged the orchards in walled plots, with palms on the edges and crops beneath. Tens of thousands of palms remain today in and around the city, the largest palm grove in Europe, and the Palmeral was added to the UNESCO list in 2000.
Read the complete Palmeral of Elche write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
58 km in you reach Palmeral of Elche. Next is back through Cueva de las Arañas del Carabassi.
4. back through Cueva de las Arañas del Carabassi
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cueva de las Arañas del Carabassi write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Cueva de las Arañas del Carabassi, late in the day. Next is Arroyo de martín Pérez.
5. Arroyo de martín Pérez
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Arroyo de martín Pérez write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Arroyo de martín Pérez. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Arroyo de martín Pérez to Cueva de las Arañas del Carabassi
Arroyo de martín Pérez → Cueva de las Arañas del Carabassi is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cueva de las Arañas del Carabassi to Palmeral of Elche
Cueva de las Arañas del Carabassi → Palmeral of Elche is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Palmeral of Elche to back through Cueva de las Arañas del Carabassi
Palmeral of Elche → back through Cueva de las Arañas del Carabassi is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cueva de las Arañas del Carabassi to Arroyo de martín Pérez
back through Cueva de las Arañas del Carabassi → Arroyo de martín Pérez is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.