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.
The stops in between: Abrigo de la fuente de montañoz I, Fuensanta II, Cueva de las Palamas and Cueva de los Pucheros. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,400 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
The Cañada de la Cruz is a high valley or drovers' pasture in the Segura mountains; cañada is the word for the traditional livestock routes and grazing grounds used by shepherds moving their flocks between summer and winter pastures, and this part of Spain has a long history of transhumance.
Read the complete Cañada de la Cruz write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cañada de la Cruz is where the day begins. Next is Abrigo de la fuente de montañoz I.
Nerpio is about as far from anywhere as you can get in mainland Spain. The village sits in the southwestern corner of Albacete province, where Castilla-La Mancha meets Andalusia and Murcia, in the mountains of the Sierra de Segura, at the end of long, winding roads. It is known for its walnut trees, which line the valleys and give the village its pride, and for its rock art: the hills around are full of shelters with prehistoric paintings, and Nerpio is one of the most important centres for Levantine art in Spain. The Abrigo de la Fuente de Montañoz is one of these shelters, near a spring in the hills above the Taibilla river.
Read the complete Abrigo de la fuente de montañoz I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo de la fuente de montañoz I comes up about 59 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fuensanta II.
Fuensanta II is the sort of name only an archaeologist could love, a numbered rock shelter in the hills of northwest Murcia where prehistoric painters left a handful of figures on the stone. It is one of the hundreds of sites grouped under UNESCO's listing of rock art in the Mediterranean Basin of the Iberian Peninsula, and the Moratalla area is unusually rich in them. The paintings are small, faint to the untrained eye and protected, so the real value of coming is to understand the landscape that drew people here thousands of years ago: springs, shelter and game in rough, broken country.
Read the complete Fuensanta II write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 113 km into the recorded legs you reach Fuensanta II. Next is Cueva de las Palamas.
Cehegín, in the north-west of the Murcia region, is a town of two faces: a modern lower town, and an old town on a hill, with steep streets, noble houses and churches, declared a historic site. The Cueva de las Palomas, the cave of the doves, lies on the edge of the town, less than a kilometre from the centre, with the larger town of Caravaca de la Cruz about five kilometres away.
Read the complete Cueva de las Palamas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cueva de las Palamas, about halfway. Next is Cueva de los Pucheros.
North-west of Cieza, the Segura river cuts through a dry landscape of limestone ridges, almond and fruit orchards, and rice fields that look out of place in arid Murcia. The Cueva de los Pucheros, a rock shelter in these hills between Cieza and Calasparra, is one of the many sites in the region holding prehistoric paintings, part of the UNESCO-listed Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula. Like most of these shelters, it is fragile and often protected by a fence, and access may require a guided visit arranged through the local authorities.
Read the complete Cueva de los Pucheros write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cueva de los Pucheros sits at 141 km, about halfway. Next is back through Cueva de las Palamas.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cueva de las Palamas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Cueva de las Palamas comes up about 246 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Fuensanta II.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fuensanta II write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 284 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Fuensanta II. Next is back through Abrigo de la fuente de montañoz I.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo de la fuente de montañoz I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Abrigo de la fuente de montañoz I, late in the day. Next is Cañada de la Cruz.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cañada de la Cruz write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 396 km.
Cañada de la Cruz → Abrigo de la fuente de montañoz I is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo de la fuente de montañoz I → Fuensanta II is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fuensanta II → Cueva de las Palamas is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cueva de las Palamas → Cueva de los Pucheros is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cueva de los Pucheros → back through Cueva de las Palamas is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cueva de las Palamas → back through Fuensanta II is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fuensanta II → back through Abrigo de la fuente de montañoz I is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abrigo de la fuente de montañoz I → Cañada de la Cruz is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.