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 276 km round trip from Villafamés - roughly 6 h 54 in the saddle. The stops in between: Cova de Gargán, Racó de Nando, Abric de la mostela and back through Racó de Nando. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,250 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Villafamés announces itself from a long way off: a village of white and ochre houses stacked up a hill of reddish rock, with the remains of a castle crowning the top. It stands a little inland from the coast of Castellón, roughly between Borriol, Cabanes and the beach town of Benicàssim, close enough to the sea that you can smell salt on a westerly breeze turning, yet already in that rumpled hill country that leads up into the Maestrat.
Read the complete Castell de Villafamés write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Castell de Villafamés is where the day begins. Next is Cova de Gargán.
High in the interior of Castellón, where the coastal orange groves are long forgotten and the land climbs toward the Penyagolosa massif, the shelter known as Cova de Gargán sits in a country of limestone ledges, holm oak and dry-stone terraces. Vistabella del Maestrazgo is the nearest village, a handful of kilometres away on its high plateau, with Villahermosa del Río down in its valley to the other side and Lucena del Cid a little further south. It is quiet up here in a way that the coast never is.
Read the complete Cova de Gargán write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cova de Gargán comes up about 43 km into the recorded legs. Next is Racó de Nando.
Racó means corner in Valencian, and this really is a corner: a fold in the limestone hills between Benassal, Culla and Vilafranca, in the interior of Castellón where the coast's crowds feel a continent away. The rock shelter here is one of the many small sites of Levantine prehistoric painting that together make up a UNESCO World Heritage listing, and like most of them it is modest, fenced and best seen with a local guide. What lingers is less the painting than the idea of hunters choosing this exact overhang, with water close by and a view down the valley, and leaving their mark on it.
Read the complete Racó de Nando write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 96 km into the recorded legs you reach Racó de Nando. Next is Abric de la mostela.
The hill country around Albocàsser and Catí, in the north of Castellón province, is a landscape of terraced slopes, almond trees and limestone ravines that few visitors cross on their way from the coast to Morella.
Read the complete Abric de la mostela write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abric de la mostela, about halfway. Next is back through Racó de Nando.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Racó de Nando write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Racó de Nando sits at 131 km, about halfway. Next is back through Cova de Gargán.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cova de Gargán write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Cova de Gargán comes up about 233 km into the recorded legs. Next is Castell de Villafamés.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Castell de Villafamés write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Castell de Villafamés closes the day.
Castell de Villafamés → Cova de Gargán is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cova de Gargán → Racó de Nando is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Racó de Nando → Abric de la mostela is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abric de la mostela → back through Racó de Nando is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Racó de Nando → back through Cova de Gargán is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cova de Gargán → Castell de Villafamés is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.