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CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE

Balma de les Ovelles and Abrigo del Camino

Plan this ride

Recorded distance
554 km
Riding-time estimate
9 h 51
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

From Sopeira it runs 554 km to Sopeira; allow about 9 h 51 of riding. It goes by way of Eglésia de Santa Maria, Cueva de Revilla, Abrigo del Camino and back through Cueva de Revilla. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,950 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.

Scenic road chapters

Ruta del Cares · N-260

Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 27 km this is Ruta del Cares · N-260, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.

Chapter facts
Length
27 km
Named road
Ruta del Cares · N-260

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

  1. 1. Balma de les Ovelles

    The Balma de les Ovelles, the Sheep's Shelter, lies in the high country where Catalonia meets Aragon, between the valleys of the Noguera Ribagorçana and the Noguera Pallaresa. This is the southern edge of the Pyrenees, a land of limestone ridges, deep gorges, reservoirs and scattered villages, many of them half empty. Rock shelters like this one, used by shepherds and their flocks for thousands of years, are found throughout the region, and some hold traces of prehistoric painting or occupation. The name tells you what it was most recently used for, and the landscape around still carries the sound of sheep bells.

    Read the complete Balma de les Ovelles write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    Balma de les Ovelles is where the day begins. Next is Eglésia de Santa Maria.

  2. 2. Eglésia de Santa Maria

    Nine Romanesque churches stand in the Vall de Boí, high in the Catalan Pyrenees, and together they make one of the most coherent medieval landscapes in Europe. They were built in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, in a style that came from Lombardy with masons who knew how to raise stone towers without much money. UNESCO inscribed the group in 2000, calling them outstanding examples of a distinctive Lombard-Catalan style in a remote mountain setting.

    Read the complete Eglésia de Santa Maria write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    Eglésia de Santa Maria comes up about 27 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cueva de Revilla.

  3. 3. Cueva de Revilla

    Revilla is one of the most spectacularly placed hamlets in the Spanish Pyrenees, perched on a ledge above the Garganta de Escuaín, a deep gorge cut into the limestone of the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park. It looks down into the canyon from a terrace of meadows, with the high peaks behind. The Cueva de Revilla is a cave in the cliffs near the hamlet, and the area between Bielsa, Plan and Boltaña is some of the wildest country in Aragón.

    Read the complete Cueva de Revilla write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    about 139 km into the recorded legs you reach Cueva de Revilla. Next is Abrigo del Camino.

  4. 4. Abrigo del Camino

    The Sierra de Guara is the southern edge of the Pyrenees, a limestone range cut by canyons so deep and narrow that they have made the area a centre for canyoning. The river Vero runs through one of them, a gorge of pale rock and clear green pools, and at its mouth stands the village of Alquézar, whose collegiate church and castle dominate a rocky spur above the water. The Abrigo del Camino is one of the painted shelters in this country, part of the Levantine rock art of the Mediterranean arc that UNESCO lists, in a landscape that suits prehistoric hunters well.

    Read the complete Abrigo del Camino write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    Abrigo del Camino, about halfway. Next is back through Cueva de Revilla.

  5. 5. back through Cueva de Revilla

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Cueva de Revilla 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 Revilla sits at 195 km, about halfway. Next is back through Eglésia de Santa Maria.

  6. 6. back through Eglésia de Santa Maria

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Eglésia de Santa Maria write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    back through Eglésia de Santa Maria comes up about 524 km into the recorded legs. Next is Balma de les Ovelles.

  7. 7. Balma de les Ovelles

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Balma de les Ovelles write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    Balma de les Ovelles closes the day.

Leg by leg

Balma de les Ovelles to Eglésia de Santa Maria

Balma de les Ovelles → Eglésia de Santa Maria is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Eglésia de Santa Maria to Cueva de Revilla

Eglésia de Santa Maria → Cueva de Revilla is 112 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.

Cueva de Revilla to Abrigo del Camino

Cueva de Revilla → Abrigo del Camino is 140 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Abrigo del Camino to back through Cueva de Revilla

Abrigo del Camino → back through Cueva de Revilla is 130 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Cueva de Revilla to back through Eglésia de Santa Maria

back through Cueva de Revilla → back through Eglésia de Santa Maria is 115 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.

back through Eglésia de Santa Maria to Balma de les Ovelles

back through Eglésia de Santa Maria → Balma de les Ovelles is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

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