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 398 km round trip from Vistabella del Maestrazgo - roughly 8 h 26 in the saddle. On the way it passes Castell de Villafamés, Mas d'en Salvador- Abric I, 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.
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 is where the day begins. Next is Castell de Villafamés.
Villafamés announces itself from a long way off: a village of white and ochre houses stacked up a hill of reddish rock, with the remains of a castle crowning the top. It stands a little inland from the coast of Castellón, roughly between Borriol, Cabanes and the beach town of Benicàssim, close enough to the sea that you can smell salt on a westerly breeze turning, yet already in that rumpled hill country that leads up into the Maestrat.
Read the complete Castell de Villafamés write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Castell de Villafamés comes up about 42 km into the recorded legs. Next is Mas d'en Salvador- Abric I.
The Valltorta is the name that matters in this corner of Castellón, and everything about this shelter makes more sense once you know why. The Barranc de la Valltorta, a deep, narrow gorge cut through the limestone of the Alt Maestrat, holds one of the great concentrations of Levantine rock art, including scenes of hunting and fighting that were among the first to make archaeologists understand that these paintings tell stories. A small museum in nearby Tírig explains the gorge and its art, and it is a sensible starting point before you set out.
Read the complete Mas d'en Salvador- Abric I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 81 km into the recorded legs you reach Mas d'en Salvador- Abric I. 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 151 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 263 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Mas d'en Salvador- Abric I.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mas d'en Salvador- Abric I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 317 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Mas d'en Salvador- Abric I. Next is back through Castell de Villafamés.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Castell de Villafamés write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Castell de Villafamés, late in the day. Next is Cova de Gargán.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cova de Gargán write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 398 km.
Cova de Gargán → Castell de Villafamés is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Castell de Villafamés → Mas d'en Salvador- Abric I is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mas d'en Salvador- Abric I → Galeria del Roure is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Galeria del Roure → Las Rozas I is 60 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 Mas d'en Salvador- Abric I is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Mas d'en Salvador- Abric I → back through Castell de Villafamés is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Castell de Villafamés → Cova de Gargán is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.