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.
456 km from Mequinensa / Mequinenza to Mequinensa / Mequinenza, about 8 h 12 of riding. The stops in between: Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés, Abric de Gallicant, The and Roca Roja. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
The Ebro runs a long way to reach the sea, and at Mequinenza it was blocked, drowned and then reborn as a reservoir. Bco. de Campells, the ravine that shares the shelter's name, lies in the dry hills near this town in the Aragonese Bajo Cinca, where the Segre, the Cinca and the Ebro all come together in the same area. The shelter is one of the painted rock sites of the Mediterranean basin, with red figures in the Levantine style, and the setting is the sort of arid, sun-baked limestone country that gives the paintings their lasting quality.
Read the complete Bco. de Campells I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Bco. de Campells I is where the day begins. Next is Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés.
South of Lleida the irrigated orchards give way abruptly to dry, open steppe, and the little village of Alfés sits on the edge of that change. The Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés are rock paintings in a small sandstone shelter near the village, schematic designs in red pigment, mostly abstract lines, dots and simplified figures, that belong to the later, more symbolic phase of prehistoric art in eastern Spain, and they are included in the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean Basin rock art. They are modest to look at, but there is something powerful about seeing marks left by people thousands of years ago in such an open, wind-swept place.
Read the complete Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés comes up about 56 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abric de Gallicant.
Alforja is a village on the southern edge of the Prades mountains, where the plain of the Camp de Tarragona meets the steep slopes of the Serra de l'Argentera and the Serra de la Mussara. The Abric de Gallicant lies in the hills near Alforja, Vilaplana and Ulldemolins, and it is one of the many prehistoric shelters in these mountains that form part of the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean rock art. The name means rooster's song, a poetic touch typical of Catalan place names. The paintings in this area are generally schematic, with simple figures and geometric shapes, and many shelters are protected by fences.
Read the complete Abric de Gallicant write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 115 km into the recorded legs you reach Abric de Gallicant. Next is The.
Inside a plain-looking farmhouse building is a domed hall from the fourth century, its cupola covered in mosaics of hunting scenes, biblical stories and figures that may represent the imperial family. Some scholars believe it was built as a mausoleum for Constans, son of Constantine the Great, who was killed in 350; others are not so sure, and the debate is part of the fun. The site belongs to the UNESCO listing for the Roman town of Tarraco.
Read the complete The write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The, about halfway. Next is Roca Roja.
Roca Roja, the red rock, is a fitting name for this corner of inland Catalonia, where sandstone and conglomerate cliffs glow rust-coloured in the evening light above pine forest and small terraced fields. The point lies in the hills between Querol and Mediona, where the comarques of Alt Camp, Alt Penedès and Anoia meet, a rugged, thinly populated upland that most people speed past on the motorway between Barcelona and Lleida without realising it exists.
Read the complete Roca Roja write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Roca Roja sits at 184 km, about halfway. Next is back through The.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through The comes up about 289 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Abric de Gallicant.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abric de Gallicant write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 340 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Abric de Gallicant. Next is back through Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés, late in the day. Next is Bco. de Campells I, 46 km on.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bco. de Campells I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 456 km.
Bco. de Campells I → Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés → Abric de Gallicant is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abric de Gallicant → The is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The → Roca Roja is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Roca Roja → back through The is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The → back through Abric de Gallicant is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abric de Gallicant → back through Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés → Bco. de Campells I is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.