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.
211 km from Nerpio to Nerpio, about 4 h 23 of riding. The stops in between: Abrigo de la Ventana I, Benizar V, Cueva de las Palamas and back through Benizar V. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,400 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Canalejas de Abajo is a name on the map rather than a place with a church and a bar: a scattering of farms and old cortijos in the upper valley of the Taibilla river, south of Nerpio, in the mountains where Albacete, Jaén and Granada meet. The Sierra de Segura and the Sierra de las Cabras rise all around, high limestone country cut by deep valleys, and the region is known among archaeologists for its painted rock shelters. The Abrigo del Sabinar and others along the same valley hold some of the most important prehistoric paintings of the Spanish south east, drawn on the soft overhangs that the river and the wind have shaped.
Read the complete Canalejas de Abajo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Canalejas de Abajo is where the day begins. Next is Abrigo de la Ventana I.
High in the Sierra de Segura, where Albacete, Murcia and Jaén meet, the Taibilla river cuts a deep valley through limestone mountains, and the cliffs and shelters along its banks hide some of the finest prehistoric paintings in Spain. The Abrigo de la Ventana, the window shelter, is one of them, near the village of Nerpio, and it is part of the World Heritage site of Levantine rock art.
Read the complete Abrigo de la Ventana I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo de la Ventana I comes up about 30 km into the recorded legs. Next is Benizar V.
Benizar is one of those places that only a handful of maps bother to name. It is a hamlet belonging to Moratalla, in the hilly north-west of the Murcia region, close to where the province meets Albacete and the first ridges of the Sierra de Segura begin. Around it, in the rock faces and gullies, archaeologists have recorded a cluster of painted shelters, and Benizar V is one in this series: a stone overhang with faint prehistoric figures, part of the Levantine rock art that runs along Spain's eastern mountains.
Read the complete Benizar V write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 54 km into the recorded legs you reach Benizar V. 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 back through Benizar V.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Benizar V write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Benizar V sits at 112 km, about halfway. Next is back through Abrigo de la Ventana I.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo de la Ventana I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Abrigo de la Ventana I comes up about 180 km into the recorded legs. Next is Canalejas de Abajo.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Canalejas de Abajo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Canalejas de Abajo closes the day.
Canalejas de Abajo → Abrigo de la Ventana I is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo de la Ventana I → Benizar V is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Benizar V → Cueva de las Palamas is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cueva de las Palamas → back through Benizar V is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Benizar V → back through Abrigo de la Ventana I is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abrigo de la Ventana I → Canalejas de Abajo is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.