CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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.
A 260 km round trip from Vall de Gallinera - roughly 4 h 26 in the saddle. The stops in between: Abric de Gontrán, Cueva de la Vieja and back through Abric de Gontrán. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 850 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
The Vall de Gallinera is one of those valleys that seems to exist slightly outside time. Running east to west in the mountains of northern Alicante, it holds eight tiny villages strung along a single road, terraced slopes of cherry trees, and above them limestone ridges cut by steep ravines. The Barranc de Beniali is one of those ravines, and in a shelter on its walls prehistoric people painted figures that are now part of the World Heritage site of Levantine rock art. The valley next door, the Vall d'Ebo, is just as wild, and its Cova del Rull is a show cave full of stalactites.
Read the complete Barranc de Beniali- Abric l write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Barranc de Beniali- Abric l is where the day begins. Next is Abric de Gontrán.
Head south-west from Xàtiva along the old road to Castile and you climb gently into a corridor between two mountain ranges, the Serra Grossa on one side and the Serra de Enguera on the other. The town of Moixent sits where the corridor narrows, with Vallada just downstream and the vineyards of Fontanars dels Alforins on the plateau beyond. The Abric de Gontran lies in the hills just outside Moixent.
Read the complete Abric de Gontrán write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abric de Gontrán comes up about 67 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cueva de la Vieja.
In 1910 a local man led researchers to a shallow shelter above the plain of Alpera in Albacete, and the paintings they found there became some of the best known examples of Levantine rock art in Spain. The Cueva de la Vieja shows archers with feathered headdresses, women in long skirts, deer and goats, all painted with a sense of movement that still feels immediate. The nearby Cueva del Queso holds more figures. Both are part of the UNESCO listing for the rock art of the Iberian Mediterranean, and guided visits run from the village, so check times with Alpera's tourist office.
Read the complete Cueva de la Vieja write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 129 km into the recorded legs you reach Cueva de la Vieja. Next is back through Abric de Gontrán.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abric de Gontrán write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Abric de Gontrán, late in the day. Next is Barranc de Beniali- Abric l.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Barranc de Beniali- Abric l write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Barranc de Beniali- Abric l. That is the ride.
Barranc de Beniali- Abric l → Abric de Gontrán is 67 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abric de Gontrán → Cueva de la Vieja is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cueva de la Vieja → back through Abric de Gontrán is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abric de Gontrán → Barranc de Beniali- Abric l is 67 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.