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 392 km round trip from Oropesa del Mar - roughly 8 h 07 in the saddle. It goes by way of Cingle dels Tolls del Puntal, Racó de Nando, Galeria del Roure and Las Rozas I. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,250 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Most people come to this stretch of the Castellón coast for the beaches at Benicàssim and Oropesa, and they never look up at the dry, scrubby hills a few kilometres inland. Up there, among the pines, rosemary and limestone ledges near Cabanes, the Cova alta del Llidoner is one of the rock shelters with prehistoric paintings that belong to the World Heritage site of Levantine rock art. It is a quiet, unshowy place, more about the feel of the land than about anything you can photograph.
Read the complete Cova alta del Llidoner write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cova alta del Llidoner is where the day begins. Next is Cingle dels Tolls del Puntal.
Cingle means a cliff in Valencian, and the Cingle dels Tolls del Puntal is one of the rocky bands that cut across the hills of northern Castellón, in the Maestrat region. The shelters in these cliffs hold paintings of the Levantine rock art tradition, red figures of archers, goats and deer, protected by UNESCO as part of the Mediterranean Basin group. The Valltorta gorge nearby is one of the richest concentrations of this art, and there is a museum in the village of Tírig that explains the painted shelters. The shelters themselves are fragile and often restricted.
Read the complete Cingle dels Tolls del Puntal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cingle dels Tolls del Puntal comes up about 41 km into the recorded legs. Next is Racó de Nando.
Racó means corner in Valencian, and this really is a corner: a fold in the limestone hills between Benassal, Culla and Vilafranca, in the interior of Castellón where the coast's crowds feel a continent away. The rock shelter here is one of the many small sites of Levantine prehistoric painting that together make up a UNESCO World Heritage listing, and like most of them it is modest, fenced and best seen with a local guide. What lingers is less the painting than the idea of hunters choosing this exact overhang, with water close by and a view down the valley, and leaving their mark on it.
Read the complete Racó de Nando write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 77 km into the recorded legs you reach Racó de Nando. Next is Galeria del Roure.
Morella rises from the plateau of the Ports like something from a dream: a walled town wrapped around a rocky hill, crowned by a castle, with the Gothic basilica of Santa María la Mayor in the middle, and two kilometres of medieval walls with towers and gates running around the base. It is one of the most impressive historic towns in Spain, and the Galeria del Roure, a rock shelter about four kilometres away, is part of the cluster of prehistoric sites around Morella, including Morella la Vella, one of the important rock-art sites of the Valencian region, all part of the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean rock art. The shelters are small and some are protected, so ask at the tourist office in town about visits.
Read the complete Galeria del Roure write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Galeria del Roure, about halfway. Next is Las Rozas I.
The upper valley of the Guadalope in Teruel is a place where limestone has been folded, cut and carved into an extraordinary array of shapes: cliffs, gorges, natural arches and pinnacles, with the river winding between them in places of startling green. Near Castellote, the painted shelter labelled Las Rozas I is one of the sites of Levantine rock art listed by UNESCO. Its figures are faint and fragile, but they speak of people who hunted deer and ibex in these same valleys thousands of years ago.
Read the complete Las Rozas I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Las Rozas I sits at 157 km, about halfway. Next is back through Galeria del Roure.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Galeria del Roure write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Galeria del Roure comes up about 260 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Racó de Nando.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Racó de Nando write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 316 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Racó de Nando. Next is back through Cingle dels Tolls del Puntal.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cingle dels Tolls del Puntal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Cingle dels Tolls del Puntal, late in the day. Next is Cova alta del Llidoner.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cova alta del Llidoner write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 392 km.
Cova alta del Llidoner → Cingle dels Tolls del Puntal is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cingle dels Tolls del Puntal → Racó de Nando is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Racó de Nando → Galeria del Roure is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Galeria del Roure → Las Rozas I is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Las Rozas I → back through Galeria del Roure is 68 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Galeria del Roure → back through Racó de Nando is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Racó de Nando → back through Cingle dels Tolls del Puntal is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cingle dels Tolls del Puntal → Cova alta del Llidoner is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.