Barrio del San Antón and Torre de la iglesia del Salvador
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
303 km
Riding-time estimate
5 h 23
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.
From Cuenca it runs 303 km to Cuenca; allow about 5 h 23 of riding. It goes by way of marmalo IV, Abrigo de la Paridera de Tormón, Torre de la iglesia del Salvador and back through Abrigo de la Paridera de Tormón. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,400 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Barrio del San Antón
Cuenca stands on a spur of rock between two gorges, and the Barrio de San Antón is the part of the old city that most visitors miss. The upper town has the cathedral and the famous Casas Colgadas, the hanging houses that overhang the Huécar gorge, and it gets all the attention. San Antón lies lower, near the junction where the Huécar meets the Júcar, and its streets are quieter and more residential. The whole walled town was inscribed by UNESCO in 1996 as an outstanding example of a medieval fortified city adapted to a difficult site.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Barrio del San Antón is where the day begins. Next is marmalo IV.
2. marmalo IV
Villar del Humo is a village of a few hundred people in the Serranía de Cuenca, a high land of pine forest, limestone gorges and sparse villages that lies between the cities of Cuenca and Valencia. The Marmalo shelters nearby, of which this is the fourth, are among the most famous sites of Levantine rock art in the region, with painted figures of hunters, animals and scenes that archaeologists have studied for a century. They are part of the Mediterranean-arc group UNESCO listed in 1998, and the village has made them a point of local pride.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
marmalo IV comes up about 56 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abrigo de la Paridera de Tormón.
3. Abrigo de la Paridera de Tormón
Paridera is a shepherd's word: a stone pen where ewes give birth, sheltered from the wind. Above Tormón, a tiny village in the southern Sierra de Albarracín, one such overhang has given its name to a rock shelter with prehistoric paintings, the Abrigo de la Paridera, part of the Levantine rock art sites the Iberian Peninsula shares under one UNESCO listing. The cliff here is rodeno, the red sandstone that gives this corner of Teruel its startling colour, eroded into towers, arches and overhangs among the pine trees.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 118 km into the recorded legs you reach Abrigo de la Paridera de Tormón. Next is Torre de la iglesia del Salvador.
4. 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
Barrio del San Antón closes the day.
Leg by leg
Barrio del San Antón to marmalo IV
Barrio del San Antón → marmalo IV is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
marmalo IV to Abrigo de la Paridera de Tormón
marmalo IV → Abrigo de la Paridera de Tormón is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo de la Paridera de Tormón to Torre de la iglesia del Salvador
Abrigo de la Paridera de Tormón → Torre de la iglesia del Salvador is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Torre de la iglesia del Salvador to back through Abrigo de la Paridera de Tormón
Torre de la iglesia del Salvador → back through Abrigo de la Paridera de Tormón is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abrigo de la Paridera de Tormón to back through marmalo IV
back through Abrigo de la Paridera de Tormón → back through marmalo IV is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through marmalo IV to Barrio del San Antón
back through marmalo IV → Barrio del San Antón is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.