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 520 km round trip from Aldeaquemada - roughly 11 h 49 in the saddle. It goes by way of Cañada de la Cruz, Fuente del Sabuco I and back through Cañada de la Cruz. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,400 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
The Sierra Morena marks the end of Andalusia, the hilly rampart that the old road from Madrid had to cross before dropping into the Guadalquivir lowlands. Cerro de la Caldera, a hill near Aldeaquemada in the north-east of Jaén province, sits in the heart of this frontier, in a quiet landscape of holm oaks, cork oaks, rockrose scrub and sandstone outcrops. Rock shelters in these hills hold schematic and Levantine paintings, and the area is part of the wider World Heritage listing of Iberian rock art.
Read the complete Cerro de la Caldera write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cerro de la Caldera is where the day begins. Next is Cañada de la Cruz.
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 comes up about 156 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fuente del Sabuco I.
High in the Sierra del Taibilla, in the borderland hills between Moratalla and Nerpio, the shelters of Fuente del Sabuco hold Levantine paintings of hunters, archers and animals, part of the rich rock art of this remote corner where Andalusia, Murcia and Castilla-La Mancha meet. Nerpio and Moratalla between them hold a remarkable number of painted shelters, making this one of the key centres of rock art in Spain, and an interpretation centre in the village explains the paintings and organises visits. The shelter is part of the Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin World Heritage listing.
Read the complete Fuente del Sabuco I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 260 km into the recorded legs you reach Fuente del Sabuco I. Next is back through 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.
back through Cañada de la Cruz, late in the day. Next is Cerro de la Caldera.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cerro de la Caldera write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Cerro de la Caldera. That is the ride.
Cerro de la Caldera → Cañada de la Cruz is 156 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Cañada de la Cruz → Fuente del Sabuco I is 104 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fuente del Sabuco I → back through Cañada de la Cruz is 102 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cañada de la Cruz → Cerro de la Caldera is 158 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.