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.
608 km from Casbas de Huesca to Casbas de Huesca, about 11 h 08 of riding. It goes by way of Forau del Cocho, Abrigo de Santa Eulaliade la Peña, Cueva de Pacencia and Abrigo de la Ermita de San Urbez. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,750 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 127 km this is Pyrenees N260 Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
The Cueva de Chaves, in the foothills of the Sierra de Guara in Huesca, was one of the most important Neolithic sites in the Iberian Peninsula, with deposits showing some of the earliest farming and herding in north-eastern Spain. In 2007, in an act that caused outrage, the landowner bulldozed the cave's floor deposits, destroying much of the archaeological record, and the case went to court. Rock art shelters in the area, including Chaves I and others in the Vero river valley, survive and are part of the Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin listing, with paintings ranging from Palaeolithic to schematic art.
Read the complete Chaves I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Chaves I is where the day begins. Next is Forau del Cocho.
South of Huesca the land opens out. The Pyrenees are behind you, a snowy line on a clear day, and ahead stretches the gently rolling cereal country that eventually turns into the dry steppes of Los Monegros. Forau del Cocho lies in this transitional landscape, between Torres de Barbués, Almuniente and the outskirts of Huesca itself, a place where the only relief is the occasional low ridge or gully cut into soft rock.
Read the complete Forau del Cocho write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Forau del Cocho comes up about 47 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abrigo de Santa Eulaliade la Peña.
Just north of Huesca, where the flat cereal land of the Hoya suddenly rears up into the first limestone walls of the Pre-Pyrenees, lies the little village of Nueno and, above it, the rock shelter named after Santa Eulalia de la Peña. This is the southern edge of the Sierra de Guara country, a landscape of gorges, conglomerate cliffs and scrub where griffon vultures ride the thermals and the light comes hard off pale stone.
Read the complete Abrigo de Santa Eulaliade la Peña write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 90 km into the recorded legs you reach Abrigo de Santa Eulaliade la Peña. Next is Cueva de Pacencia.
The Sierra de Guara is the first big wrinkle of the Pyrenees north of Huesca, a block of limestone sliced into deep canyons by rivers like the Vero, the Alcanadre and the Mascún, and the Cueva de Pacencia sits in that broken country. The shelters along the Vero hold prehistoric paintings in several styles, from the lively Levantine hunters to much more abstract schematic signs, and they are part of the UNESCO Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin. The area is managed as the Río Vero Cultural Park, with an interpretation centre in Colungo and guided visits to the best-preserved shelters, which is the sensible way to see them.
Read the complete Cueva de Pacencia write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cueva de Pacencia, about halfway. Next is Abrigo de la Ermita de San Urbez.
The Añisclo canyon is one of the deepest and narrowest in the Spanish Pyrenees, a cleft in the limestone of the Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park, and the road that runs through its lower section is one of the most remarkable in Aragon. At its southern end, beside an old stone bridge over the Bellós river, stands the hermitage of San Úrbez, built half into the cliff, with a cave behind it where tradition says the saint lived as a hermit. Close by, rock shelters hold traces of prehistoric painting.
Read the complete Abrigo de la Ermita de San Urbez write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo de la Ermita de San Urbez sits at 156 km, about halfway. Next is back through Cueva de Pacencia.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cueva de Pacencia write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Cueva de Pacencia comes up about 436 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Abrigo de Santa Eulaliade la Peña.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo de Santa Eulaliade la Peña write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 517 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Abrigo de Santa Eulaliade la Peña. Next is back through Forau del Cocho.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Forau del Cocho write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Forau del Cocho, late in the day. Next is Chaves I.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Chaves I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 608 km.
Chaves I → Forau del Cocho is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Forau del Cocho → Abrigo de Santa Eulaliade la Peña is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo de Santa Eulaliade la Peña → Cueva de Pacencia is 82 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cueva de Pacencia → Abrigo de la Ermita de San Urbez is 127 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo de la Ermita de San Urbez → back through Cueva de Pacencia is 137 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cueva de Pacencia → back through Abrigo de Santa Eulaliade la Peña is 81 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abrigo de Santa Eulaliade la Peña → back through Forau del Cocho is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Forau del Cocho → Chaves I is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.