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.
From Velez Rubio it runs 472 km to Velez Rubio; allow about 10 h 35 of riding. On the way it passes Abrigo de las Cañadas II, Solana del molinico and back through Abrigo de las Cañadas II. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,450 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Almería is known for deserts and beaches, but its northern edge is a different country, a high, cold plateau of almond orchards and pine-covered sierras that the locals call Los Vélez. The town of Vélez-Blanco, with just over 2,000 people, lies under a castle on a rocky crest, and María and Chirivel are smaller places on the plateau. The region is protected as the Sierra María-Los Vélez natural park, and the air is clear, the sky enormous, and the nights cold, even in summer. In late winter the almond trees bloom pink and white on the slopes below the peaks.
Read the complete Chiquita write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Chiquita is where the day begins. Next is Abrigo de las Cañadas II.
Nerpio is about as remote as mainland Spain gets. The village sits in the far southwest corner of Albacete province, in the Sierra de Segura, where the mountains of Andalusia, Murcia and Castilla-La Mancha meet, and the rock shelters scattered around it make up one of the richest concentrations of prehistoric art in the region. The Abrigo de las Cañadas II belongs to that group, an overhang in the hills between Nerpio and the high plateaus toward Huéscar and Yeste.
Read the complete Abrigo de las Cañadas II write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo de las Cañadas II comes up about 137 km into the recorded legs. Next is Solana del molinico.
Socovos is the sort of village you only find by getting a little lost: a cluster of white houses below a ruined castle in the far southeast of Albacete province, where the plains of La Mancha give way to the tangled ridges of the Sierra de Segura. Solana del Molinico, close by, is one of the rock-art shelters in this corner of Spain that belong to the UNESCO listing for Levantine rock art. The word solana means a sun-facing slope, and many of these painted overhangs face south, catching the warmth on winter days just as they must have done when hunters and gatherers sheltered here.
Read the complete Solana del molinico write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 237 km into the recorded legs you reach Solana del molinico. Next is back through Abrigo de las Cañadas II.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo de las Cañadas II write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Abrigo de las Cañadas II, late in the day. Next is Chiquita.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Chiquita write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Chiquita. That is the ride.
Chiquita → Abrigo de las Cañadas II is 137 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Abrigo de las Cañadas II → Solana del molinico is 100 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Solana del molinico → back through Abrigo de las Cañadas II is 84 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abrigo de las Cañadas II → Chiquita is 152 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.