Barranc de la Cova Negra and Barranco del Cabezo del moro
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
446 km
Riding-time estimate
10 h 07
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.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
446 km from Vall de Gallinera to Vall de Gallinera, about 10 h 07 of riding. It goes by way of Barranc de mastec, Abric de la Penya, Abric del Voro and Barranco del Cabezo del moro. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Barranc de la Cova Negra
Cherry trees are the secret of this valley, and for a few days in late winter and spring they turn the slopes white. The Vall de Gallinera, which lies just north of the Vall d'Ebo, is a long, narrow valley of small villages, with Adsubia among them, filled with terraced fields that the Moors once irrigated with great skill. Its cherries are among the best in the region, and the blossom draws visitors who come to walk the terraces and take photographs.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Barranc de la Cova Negra is where the day begins. Next is Barranc de mastec.
2. Barranc de mastec
Between Cocentaina and Alcoy, in the hilly interior of Alicante province, a small ravine called the Barranc de Mastec holds rock shelters with prehistoric paintings, part of the UNESCO listing of rock art of the Mediterranean Basin. This corner of Spain is particularly rich in it, with styles ranging from the naturalistic Levantine figures of hunters and animals to the strange, abstract macro-schematic art that seems unique to these valleys. The ravine is surrounded by terraced olive and almond groves, pine woods and limestone crags.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Barranc de mastec comes up about 38 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abric de la Penya.
3. Abric de la Penya
Moixent, or Mogente in Castilian, stands at the head of a corridor that has carried traffic between the Valencian coast and the interior of Castile for as long as anyone has been moving goods. The old road, the railway and now the motorway all funnel through here, between low limestone ridges with vineyards and olive groves in the valley floor. The rock shelter known as the Abric de la Penya sits in this landscape a few kilometres from the town, close also to Vallada.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 80 km into the recorded legs you reach Abric de la Penya. Next is Abric del Voro.
4. Abric del Voro
The Canal de Navarrés is a wide valley in the interior of Valencia province, surrounded by limestone mountains and deep gorges, and the Abric del Voro lies in the hills between Quesa and Bicorp, two small villages in the heart of some of the wildest country in the region. It is one of the many rock shelters with prehistoric paintings in the area, part of the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean rock art. The valley's most famous site is close by: the Cuevas de la Araña near Bicorp, where a painting of a figure climbing ropes to collect honey from a wild bees' nest, surrounded by bees, is one of the best-known images of prehistoric art in Spain, often cited as one of the earliest depictions of honey gathering.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abric del Voro, about halfway. Next is Barranco del Cabezo del moro.
5. Barranco del Cabezo del moro
Almansa is one of those towns you see from the motorway and do not stop at, and that is a mistake. Its castle is spectacular, a Gothic fortress built on a sharp limestone outcrop right in the middle of town, looking exactly like a child's drawing of a castle. Around it spreads a wide plain at about seven hundred metres, the meeting point of the Valencian, Murcian and Castilian lands, and a few kilometres out in the surrounding hills lies the ravine known as the Barranco del Cabezo del Moro.