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 230 km round trip from Benassal - roughly 5 h 12 in the saddle. On the way it passes Abric mas de la Roca, Galeria del Roure, Abric de la Tenalla and back through Galeria del Roure. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,100 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Barranc del Puig- Abric I
The Maestrat is the high, rugged interior of the province of Castellón, a land of limestone plateaus, deep ravines and stone villages that seem to grow out of the rock. Near Benassal, the Barranc del Puig cuts into the hills, and its rock shelters contain prehistoric paintings, part of the UNESCO serial site of the rock art of the Mediterranean Basin. This area is one of the richest in Spain for Levantine rock art, and the nearby Valltorta gorge, between Albocàsser and Tírig, has some of the most famous paintings, including scenes of hunters chasing deer and wild goats. The Valltorta museum in Tírig explains the art and organises visits to the shelters.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Barranc del Puig- Abric I is where the day begins. Next is Abric mas de la Roca.
2. Abric mas de la Roca
Northern Castellón is a hard, empty, beautiful part of Valencian Spain, a country of limestone ridges and terraced slopes some thirty kilometres back from the Mediterranean, and the Abric Mas de la Roca belongs to it, about six kilometres from the village of Xert, whose name is spelled Chert in Catalan and Valencian. Xert has fewer than a thousand people, Canet lo Roig and Catí are similar, and everything here is small and old.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abric mas de la Roca comes up about 36 km into the recorded legs. Next is Galeria del Roure.
3. Galeria del Roure
Morella rises from the plateau of the Ports like something from a dream: a walled town wrapped around a rocky hill, crowned by a castle, with the Gothic basilica of Santa María la Mayor in the middle, and two kilometres of medieval walls with towers and gates running around the base. It is one of the most impressive historic towns in Spain, and the Galeria del Roure, a rock shelter about four kilometres away, is part of the cluster of prehistoric sites around Morella, including Morella la Vella, one of the important rock-art sites of the Valencian region, all part of the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean rock art. The shelters are small and some are protected, so ask at the tourist office in town about visits.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 71 km into the recorded legs you reach Galeria del Roure. Next is Abric de la Tenalla.
4. Abric de la Tenalla
The Tinença de Benifassà is one of the wildest corners of the Valencian region, a cluster of tiny villages in the mountains where Valencia, Catalonia and Aragon meet, and the Abric de la Tenalla lies on its southeastern edge, near Rosell. It is one of the many rock shelters in this area with prehistoric paintings, part of the UNESCO-listed rock art of the Mediterranean Basin, and the nearby Serra de Godall and the Ulldecona shelters to the east are among the most important sites in Catalonia. The landscape is dramatic: limestone cliffs, deep gorges, pine and holm oak forests, and abandoned terraces where shepherds once grazed their flocks.