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 275 km round trip from Montblanc - roughly 5 h 05 in the saddle. The stops in between: Albi II / Balma dels Punts, Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés, Abric del Barranc de Sant Jaume and back through Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés. The line favours views over speed.
Montblanc is a walled town that looks almost too perfect, and then you realise it has been looking like this since the fourteenth century. The Conca de Barberà is a basin of vineyards and cereal fields ringed by low mountains, and Montblanc sits at its heart with over a kilometre of medieval walls, towers and gates still standing. The town claims to be the setting for the legend of St George and the dragon, and each April it celebrates the festival of Sant Jordi, with a medieval week of costumes and markets.
Read the complete Cova de les Creus write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cova de les Creus is where the day begins. Next is Albi II / Balma dels Punts.
L'Albi is a small village on a hill in Les Garrigues, the dry, olive-covered district southeast of Lleida, and its name appears in the archaeological record thanks to rock shelters in the area, including the Balma dels Punts, the shelter of the dots. The name suggests schematic paintings in the form of dots and lines, typical of the later phase of prehistoric art in the region, and the site is part of the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean rock art. The shelters are small and fragile, and some can only be visited with a guide, so check with the town hall or a local interpretation centre before heading out.
Read the complete Albi II / Balma dels Punts write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Albi II / Balma dels Punts comes up about 45 km into the recorded legs. Next is Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés.
South of Lleida the irrigated orchards give way abruptly to dry, open steppe, and the little village of Alfés sits on the edge of that change. The Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés are rock paintings in a small sandstone shelter near the village, schematic designs in red pigment, mostly abstract lines, dots and simplified figures, that belong to the later, more symbolic phase of prehistoric art in eastern Spain, and they are included in the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean Basin rock art. They are modest to look at, but there is something powerful about seeing marks left by people thousands of years ago in such an open, wind-swept place.
Read the complete Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 73 km into the recorded legs you reach Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés. Next is Abric del Barranc de Sant Jaume.
Mequinenza had to move. In the 1960s and 1970s, two dams built on the Ebro created a huge reservoir known as the Mar de Aragón, and the old town at the meeting of the Ebro and the Segre was abandoned and largely demolished, its people resettled in a new town above. The story is told in the town's museums and in the novels of Jesús Moncada, who grew up in the old Mequinenza. In a ravine nearby, the Abric del Barranc de Sant Jaume holds prehistoric paintings, part of the World Heritage Site of Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin.
Read the complete Abric del Barranc de Sant Jaume write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abric del Barranc de Sant Jaume, about halfway. Next is back through Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés sits at 129 km, about halfway. Next is back through Albi II / Balma dels Punts.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Albi II / Balma dels Punts write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Albi II / Balma dels Punts comes up about 212 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cova de les Creus.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cova de les Creus write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cova de les Creus closes the day.
Cova de les Creus → Albi II / Balma dels Punts is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Albi II / Balma dels Punts → Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés → Abric del Barranc de Sant Jaume is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abric del Barranc de Sant Jaume → back through Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés → back through Albi II / Balma dels Punts is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Albi II / Balma dels Punts → Cova de les Creus is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.