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.
A 269 km round trip from Valdeltormo - roughly 6 h 02 in the saddle. The stops in between: Valcomuna, Abric del mas de Barberà, Los Estrechos I and back through Abric del mas de Barberà. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
The Matarraña, or Matarranya as most locals call it, is the corner of Aragón that feels Catalan, Valencian and Aragonese at once, and it has quietly become one of the most rewarding regions in Spain to explore on two wheels. The shelter known as Caídas del Salbimec lies in the hills between Valdeltormo, Mazaleón and Calaceite, one of the many prehistoric art sites along the eastern edge of the peninsula that are protected together by UNESCO. The paintings are modest, and access may involve a rough track and a walk, but the setting is typical of the region: a sandstone outcrop above olive groves and almond terraces, with the river cutting below.
Read the complete Caídas del Salbimec write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Caídas del Salbimec is where the day begins. Next is Valcomuna.
Lower Aragon is a country of dry hills, olive groves and red earth, and in its ravines people painted on the rock thousands of years ago. Valcomuna is one of those rock art sites, between Alcañiz and Caspe near the village of Maella, part of the great family of painted shelters running down Spain's Mediterranean side that UNESCO listed as the Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula. The figures in this tradition are small and lively, archers, deer, goats and people in motion, painted in red and black under overhangs where the weather could not wash them away.
Read the complete Valcomuna write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Valcomuna comes up about 46 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abric del mas de Barberà.
Alcañiz is the capital of the Bajo Aragón, a region of olive groves, cereal fields and dry hills crossed by the Guadalope river in the south-east of Aragón. The town is crowned by a castle built for the Order of Calatrava, now a parador, and its main square, with a Gothic loggia and the town hall, is one of the finest in the region. The shelter of the Mas de Barberà lies in the hills just outside town, toward Castelserás and Calanda.
Read the complete Abric del mas de Barberà write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 80 km into the recorded legs you reach Abric del mas de Barberà. Next is Los Estrechos I.
Los Estrechos means the narrows, and the name fits the country around Albalate del Arzobispo, in the Bajo Aragón, where the Martín river squeezes through limestone gorges on its way to the Ebro. The landscape is dry and open, a mixture of olive groves, almond terraces and low scrub, with sudden canyons and cliffs. The Martín valley is protected as a cultural park, because it holds a remarkable series of rock shelters with Levantine and Schematic paintings, some of which belong to the Mediterranean-arc group that UNESCO listed in 1998.
Read the complete Los Estrechos I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Los Estrechos I, about halfway. Next is back through Abric del mas de Barberà.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abric del mas de Barberà write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Abric del mas de Barberà sits at 120 km, about halfway. Next is back through Valcomuna.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Valcomuna write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Valcomuna comes up about 222 km into the recorded legs. Next is Caídas del Salbimec.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Caídas del Salbimec write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Caídas del Salbimec closes the day.
Caídas del Salbimec → Valcomuna is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Valcomuna → Abric del mas de Barberà is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abric del mas de Barberà → Los Estrechos I is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Los Estrechos I → back through Abric del mas de Barberà is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abric del mas de Barberà → back through Valcomuna is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Valcomuna → Caídas del Salbimec is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.