Why this ride
A 334 km round trip from Mequinensa / Mequinenza - roughly 7 h 16 in the saddle. The stops in between: Val del Charco del Agua Amarga, Abric de la Tenalla and back through Val del Charco del Agua Amarga.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Camino de la Cova Plana l and Abric de la Tenalla
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 334 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 7 h 16
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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. Camino de la Cova Plana l
Where the Segre and the Cinca rivers meet the Ebro, the land opens out into a dry, tawny basin that feels far from the sea. Mequinenza sits at the heart of it, a small town of about 2,500 people that has a story unlike any other on the Ebro. The old town was flooded in the 1960s when the Ribarroja dam created the Mar de Aragón, a huge reservoir, and the inhabitants were moved to a new town built higher up. The writer Jesús Moncada, born here, wrote about the vanished town in his novel Camino de sirga, and the loss still colours the way people talk about the place.
Read the complete Camino de la Cova Plana l write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Camino de la Cova Plana l is where the day begins. Next is Val del Charco del Agua Amarga.
2. Val del Charco del Agua Amarga
Around ten kilometres from Alcañiz, in a dry ravine among olive groves and limestone ledges, a rock shelter holds one of the most celebrated scenes of Levantine rock art in Spain. The paintings at Val del Charco del Agua Amarga show archers in motion, hunting and perhaps fighting, their thin bodies drawn with a few confident strokes in red. Many experts consider it one of the finest examples in the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean rock art, and seeing it, even protected behind a fence, gives a real jolt of connection to people who lived here several thousand years ago.
Read the complete Val del Charco del Agua Amarga write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Val del Charco del Agua Amarga comes up 61 km in. Next is Abric de la Tenalla.
3. Abric de la Tenalla
The Tinença de Benifassà is one of the wildest corners of the Valencian region, a cluster of tiny villages in the mountains where Valencia, Catalonia and Aragon meet, and the Abric de la Tenalla lies on its southeastern edge, near Rosell. It is one of the many rock shelters in this area with prehistoric paintings, part of the UNESCO-listed rock art of the Mediterranean Basin, and the nearby Serra de Godall and the Ulldecona shelters to the east are among the most important sites in Catalonia. The landscape is dramatic: limestone cliffs, deep gorges, pine and holm oak forests, and abandoned terraces where shepherds once grazed their flocks.
Read the complete Abric de la Tenalla write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
122 km in you reach Abric de la Tenalla. Next is back through Val del Charco del Agua Amarga.
4. back through Val del Charco del Agua Amarga
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Val del Charco del Agua Amarga write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Val del Charco del Agua Amarga, late in the day. Next is Camino de la Cova Plana l.
5. Camino de la Cova Plana l
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Camino de la Cova Plana l write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Camino de la Cova Plana l. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Camino de la Cova Plana l to Val del Charco del Agua Amarga
Camino de la Cova Plana l → Val del Charco del Agua Amarga is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Val del Charco del Agua Amarga to Abric de la Tenalla
Val del Charco del Agua Amarga → Abric de la Tenalla is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abric de la Tenalla to back through Val del Charco del Agua Amarga
Abric de la Tenalla → back through Val del Charco del Agua Amarga is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Val del Charco del Agua Amarga to Camino de la Cova Plana l
back through Val del Charco del Agua Amarga → Camino de la Cova Plana l is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.