Why this ride
A 178 km round trip from Camarasa - roughly 3 h 16 in the saddle. On the way it passes Cova dels Vilasos o dels Vilars, Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés and back through Cova dels Vilasos o dels Vilars. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Balma del Pantà and Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 178 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 16
- 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Balma del Pantà
Camarasa is a small town beneath a big wall of water. The dam across the Noguera Pallaresa, built in the early twentieth century, holds back a long reservoir, the Pantà de Camarasa, in a dry, rocky corner of Lleida where the pre-Pyrenees fall toward the Ebro plain. The cliffs rise steep and ochre above the water, and in the folds of that rock, shelters hold painted scenes from long before there was a dam or even a town. The Balma del Pantà is one of the sites of the Levantine rock art of the Iberian Mediterranean, a tradition listed by UNESCO in 1998.
Read the complete Balma del Pantà write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Balma del Pantà is where the day begins. Next is Cova dels Vilasos o dels Vilars.
2. Cova dels Vilasos o dels Vilars
Os de Balaguer is a small village on the edge of the pre-Pyrenean hills in the Noguera district of Lleida, and the Cova dels Vilasos, also known as the Cova dels Vilars, lies just outside it. The site is one of the painted rock shelters of Catalonia counted within the Mediterranean rock art group protected by UNESCO, and its figures are small and reddish, drawn by people who lived from hunting and gathering in what was then a far wilder landscape. Like its neighbours it is protected and rarely dramatic at first sight; give your eyes a moment in the shade and the shapes begin to come out of the stone.
Read the complete Cova dels Vilasos o dels Vilars write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cova dels Vilasos o dels Vilars comes up about 31 km into the recorded legs. Next is Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés.
3. Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés
South of Lleida the irrigated orchards give way abruptly to dry, open steppe, and the little village of Alfés sits on the edge of that change. The Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés are rock paintings in a small sandstone shelter near the village, schematic designs in red pigment, mostly abstract lines, dots and simplified figures, that belong to the later, more symbolic phase of prehistoric art in eastern Spain, and they are included in the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean Basin rock art. They are modest to look at, but there is something powerful about seeing marks left by people thousands of years ago in such an open, wind-swept place.
Read the complete Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 92 km into the recorded legs you reach Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés. Next is back through Cova dels Vilasos o dels Vilars.
4. back through Cova dels Vilasos o dels Vilars
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cova dels Vilasos o dels Vilars write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Cova dels Vilasos o dels Vilars, late in the day. Next is Balma del Pantà.
5. Balma del Pantà
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Balma del Pantà write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Balma del Pantà. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Balma del Pantà to Cova dels Vilasos o dels Vilars
Balma del Pantà → Cova dels Vilasos o dels Vilars is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cova dels Vilasos o dels Vilars to Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés
Cova dels Vilasos o dels Vilars → Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés to back through Cova dels Vilasos o dels Vilars
Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés → back through Cova dels Vilasos o dels Vilars is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cova dels Vilasos o dels Vilars to Balma del Pantà
back through Cova dels Vilasos o dels Vilars → Balma del Pantà is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.