Why this ride
From Mequinensa / Mequinenza it runs 319 km to Mequinensa / Mequinenza; allow about 5 h 56 of riding. The stops in between: Cueva de mas del Abogat, Abric d'Ermites VI and back through Cueva de mas del Abogat.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Bco. de la Plana II and Abric d'Ermites VI
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 319 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 56
- 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Bco. de la Plana II
Mequinenza is a town that was moved. In the 1960s the Ebro was dammed below the confluence with the Segre and the Cinca, and the new reservoir, known as the Mar de Aragón, drowned the old river valley. The old town was largely abandoned and its people rehoused up the slope, which is why the place feels more planned than ancient. What remained was the castle on its rock, a coal-mining history that fed the power stations of the lower Ebro, and a landscape of limestone ridges, pine and rock rose dropping to a long, green-blue lake. The Barranco de la Plana is one of the dry ravines running down to it, and the shelter that gives this stop its name sits among the rock art of the Mediterranean Basin that UNESCO listed in 1998.
Read the complete Bco. de la Plana II write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Bco. de la Plana II is where the day begins. Next is Cueva de mas del Abogat.
2. Cueva de mas del Abogat
Calaceite is the kind of village that makes you slow down without being asked: honey-coloured stone, arcaded squares, a big baroque church and grand old houses with carved doorways, all perched on a ridge in the Matarraña, the corner of Teruel where Aragón meets Catalonia and Valencia. A few kilometres from it lies the Cueva de Mas del Abogat, one of the painted rock shelters that belong to the UNESCO listing of prehistoric art in the Mediterranean Basin of the Iberian Peninsula. As with its sisters across eastern Spain, the paintings are small and often hard to read; the setting is what you take away.
Read the complete Cueva de mas del Abogat write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cueva de mas del Abogat comes up about 72 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abric d'Ermites VI.
3. Abric d'Ermites VI
Ulldecona sits at the foot of the Serra de Godall, in the southern tip of Catalonia, close to the border with Valencia and a short distance from the Ebro delta. The town is an old one, set among olive groves that produce a good oil, and above it stands the hermitage of La Pietat, with long views to the sea. The Abric d'Ermites VI is one of the rock shelters of the Ermites group, painted in the Levantine style with small red figures of hunters, and part of the Mediterranean Basin rock art inscribed by UNESCO in 1998. The shelters lie in the cliffs of the Godall range, and access is by foot with regulations to protect the paintings.
Read the complete Abric d'Ermites VI write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 157 km into the recorded legs you reach Abric d'Ermites VI. Next is back through Cueva de mas del Abogat.
4. back through Cueva de mas del Abogat
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cueva de mas del Abogat write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Cueva de mas del Abogat, late in the day. Next is Bco. de la Plana II, 62 km on.
5. Bco. de la Plana II
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bco. de la Plana II write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Bco. de la Plana II. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Bco. de la Plana II to Cueva de mas del Abogat
Bco. de la Plana II → Cueva de mas del Abogat is 72 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cueva de mas del Abogat to Abric d'Ermites VI
Cueva de mas del Abogat → Abric d'Ermites VI is 85 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abric d'Ermites VI to back through Cueva de mas del Abogat
Abric d'Ermites VI → back through Cueva de mas del Abogat is 91 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cueva de mas del Abogat to Bco. de la Plana II
back through Cueva de mas del Abogat → Bco. de la Plana II is 71 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.