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.
432 km from Palanques to Palanques, about 7 h 36 of riding. The stops in between: Els figuerals, Abric del mas dels Ous, Barranc del Puig- Abric I and Cova de Gargán. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,200 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Els Ports is the high, empty country in the north of Castellón province, a land of stone-walled terraces, deep gorges, juniper and pine, and villages that cling to ridges above the river valleys. Palanques is one of the smallest of them, and above it, in a long cliff band known as the Cingle de Palanques, are shelters with prehistoric paintings, part of the UNESCO Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin. The Levantine paintings here show human figures and animals in the expressive style typical of this coast's mountainous interior, and like most such sites, they are protected and usually visited with a local guide.
Read the complete Cingle de Palanques- Abrigo A write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cingle de Palanques- Abrigo A is where the day begins. Next is Els figuerals.
The Matarraña, or Matarranya in Catalan, is the corner of Teruel that tourism brochures like to call Spain's Tuscany, and for once the comparison is not silly. Olive groves and almond orchards climb rolling hills topped by stone villages with church towers, while to the south the limestone wall of the Ports de Beseit rises abruptly, cut by gorges and clear rivers. Near the village of Fuentespalda, a painted shelter called Els Figuerals adds this valley to the long UNESCO roll of Iberian rock art.
Read the complete Els figuerals write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Els figuerals comes up about 58 km into the recorded legs. Next is 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.
Read the complete Abric del mas dels Ous write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 131 km into the recorded legs you reach Abric del mas dels Ous. Next is Barranc del Puig- Abric I.
The Maestrat is the high, rugged interior of the province of Castellón, a land of limestone plateaus, deep ravines and stone villages that seem to grow out of the rock. Near Benassal, the Barranc del Puig cuts into the hills, and its rock shelters contain prehistoric paintings, part of the UNESCO serial site of the rock art of the Mediterranean Basin. This area is one of the richest in Spain for Levantine rock art, and the nearby Valltorta gorge, between Albocàsser and Tírig, has some of the most famous paintings, including scenes of hunters chasing deer and wild goats. The Valltorta museum in Tírig explains the art and organises visits to the shelters.
Read the complete Barranc del Puig- Abric I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Barranc del Puig- Abric I, about halfway. 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 sits at 144 km, about halfway. Next is back through Barranc del Puig- Abric I.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Barranc del Puig- Abric I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Barranc del Puig- Abric I comes up about 263 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Abric del mas dels Ous.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abric del mas dels Ous write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 301 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Abric del mas dels Ous. Next is back through Els figuerals.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Els figuerals write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Els figuerals, late in the day. Next is Cingle de Palanques- Abrigo A.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cingle de Palanques- Abrigo A write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 432 km.
Cingle de Palanques- Abrigo A → Els figuerals is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Els figuerals → Abric del mas dels Ous is 73 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abric del mas dels Ous → Barranc del Puig- Abric I is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Barranc del Puig- Abric I → Cova de Gargán is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cova de Gargán → back through Barranc del Puig- Abric I is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Barranc del Puig- Abric I → back through Abric del mas dels Ous is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abric del mas dels Ous → back through Els figuerals is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Els figuerals → Cingle de Palanques- Abrigo A is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.