Cingle de la mola Remigia- Abric VIII and Valmayor V
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
294 km
Riding-time estimate
6 h 23
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
294 km from Ares del Maestre to Ares del Maestre, about 6 h 23 of riding. It goes by way of Calçaes del matá, Abric del mas dels Ous, Valmayor V and back through Abric del mas dels Ous. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,100 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Cingle de la mola Remigia- Abric VIII
A cingle is a long band of cliff, the kind of cliff that runs along the side of a hill like a belt, and the Cingle de la Mola Remigia is one of the great ones of the Maestrat. A mola is a table mountain, a flat-topped hill with sheer sides, and this one rises above a ravine near Benassal, about five kilometres from the village. The cliff face is a wall of pale limestone, stained with orange and grey, with ledges, overhangs and hollows that are as good for shelter today as they were when people began to paint on their walls.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cingle de la mola Remigia- Abric VIII is where the day begins. Next is Calçaes del matá.
2. Calçaes del matá
Ares del Maestrat sits on a crag so steep that the village seems glued to the rock, and below it, in the Gasulla gorge, the Cingle de la Mola Remigia holds some of the most famous Levantine paintings in Spain, scenes of archers, hunters and even an execution. Calçaes del Matà is a shelter in the same broad landscape near Albocàsser, and with the Gasulla and Valltorta sites it belongs to the World Heritage Site of Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin. The shelters here are reached on foot, and guided visits can be booked through the local museums.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Calçaes del matá comes up about 27 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abric del mas dels Ous.
3. Abric del mas dels Ous
Xert is the kind of village you pass through on the way to somewhere else and then wonder why you did not stop. It lies in the Baix Maestrat in northern Castellón, below a ridge of bare limestone, with the old village climbing the slope and a newer part down by the road. The shelter called the Abric del Mas dels Ous, the shelter of the farmhouse of the eggs, is out in the dry hills nearby, between Xert, Canet lo Roig and Rosell.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 51 km into the recorded legs you reach Abric del mas dels Ous. Next is Valmayor V.
4. Valmayor V
The Matarraña, in the far east of Teruel province, is often called the Tuscany of Aragon, and for once the comparison holds. Stone villages crown hilltops above olive groves and vineyards, rivers run clear through limestone gorges, and the light in the evening is honey-coloured. Valmayor is a ravine in the hills here, between Valderrobres, Fuentespalda and the Catalan border, and its shelters hold prehistoric paintings, part of the UNESCO-listed Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin. As elsewhere, they are protected, and visits are best arranged through local tourist offices.