Barranco del Pajarejo and Torre de la iglesia de San Martín
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
169 km
Riding-time estimate
3 h 25
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.
169 km from Jabaloyas to Jabaloyas, about 3 h 25 of riding. On the way it passes Torre de la iglesia del Salvador, Abrigo de la Paridera de las Tajadas, Torre de la iglesia de San Martín and back through Abrigo de la Paridera de las Tajadas. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,400 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Barranco del Pajarejo
Red rock, dark pines and a sky that seems higher than it should be: that is the country south of Albarracín, where the Barranco del Pajarejo cuts into the sandstone. Geologists call this stone rodeno, a coarse red sandstone that weathers into towers, overhangs and smooth shelters, and prehistoric people used those shelters as canvases. The Pinares de Rodeno protected landscape around Albarracín holds a well-known group of painted shelters with bulls, deer and human figures in white and red, and this gully is part of that wider area, quiet and seldom visited.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Barranco del Pajarejo is where the day begins. Next is Torre de la iglesia del Salvador.
2. Torre de la iglesia del Salvador
Teruel spent decades as the Spanish joke about forgotten provinces, until its people adopted the slogan Teruel existe, Teruel exists, and turned it into a political movement. Ride into the old centre and you will agree it exists rather vividly. The Torre del Salvador is one of its four great Mudéjar towers, built of brick and glazed ceramic in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries by craftsmen trained in the Islamic tradition. The road, or rather a street, still passes through an archway at its base, and you can climb inside, between the outer and inner shells of the tower, up narrow stairs to the bells.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Torre de la iglesia del Salvador comes up about 28 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abrigo de la Paridera de las Tajadas.
3. Abrigo de la Paridera de las Tajadas
Red sandstone is the first thing you notice. Between Albarracín, Bezas and Gea de Albarracín the ground turns the colour of rust, broken into towers, corridors and rounded boulders under a dense cover of maritime pine. This is the Pinares de Rodeno, a protected landscape in the Sierra de Albarracín, and its overhangs shelter some of the best-known Levantine rock paintings in Aragon, including pale and red bulls that seem far too large for the shallow hollows that hold them. The Abrigo de la Paridera de las Tajadas is one of these shelters, its name borrowed from the shepherds' pens, parideras, where ewes were brought to lamb under the rock.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 55 km into the recorded legs you reach Abrigo de la Paridera de las Tajadas. Next is Torre de la iglesia de San Martín.
4. Torre de la iglesia de San Martín
Teruel is a small provincial capital high on the Aragonese plateau, and its skyline is made of Mudéjar towers, built by Muslim craftsmen working for Christian patrons in brick and glazed ceramic tiles. The tower of San Martín, dating to the early fourteenth century, is one of the finest, a square tower straddling a street, so that traffic passes through an arch at its base. With the other Mudéjar towers of the city and the cathedral, it forms part of the World Heritage listing of Mudéjar Architecture of Aragon.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Barranco del Pajarejo closes the day.
Leg by leg
Barranco del Pajarejo to Torre de la iglesia del Salvador
Barranco del Pajarejo → Torre de la iglesia del Salvador is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Torre de la iglesia del Salvador to Abrigo de la Paridera de las Tajadas
Torre de la iglesia del Salvador → Abrigo de la Paridera de las Tajadas is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo de la Paridera de las Tajadas to Torre de la iglesia de San Martín
Abrigo de la Paridera de las Tajadas → Torre de la iglesia de San Martín is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Torre de la iglesia de San Martín to back through Abrigo de la Paridera de las Tajadas
Torre de la iglesia de San Martín → back through Abrigo de la Paridera de las Tajadas is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abrigo de la Paridera de las Tajadas to back through Torre de la iglesia del Salvador
back through Abrigo de la Paridera de las Tajadas → back through Torre de la iglesia del Salvador is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Torre de la iglesia del Salvador to Barranco del Pajarejo
back through Torre de la iglesia del Salvador → Barranco del Pajarejo is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.