Why this ride
A 176 km round trip from Artesa de Segre - roughly 3 h 08 in the saddle. It goes by way of Balma del Pantà, Cova dels Vilasos o dels Vilars and back through Balma del Pantà.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Cova del Cogulló and Cova dels Vilasos o dels Vilars
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 176 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 08
- 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Cova del Cogulló
Between the plains of Lleida and the first serious mountains of the Pyrenees there is a band of country that most people cross without noticing, and it is a mistake. The Cova del Cogulló lies here, in the hills of the Noguera between Artesa de Segre and the Montsec, a long limestone wall that rises abruptly from the farmland. Rock shelters in these hills carry prehistoric paintings, part of the Mediterranean rock art tradition that runs all along eastern Spain, and the region's churches add a medieval layer, small Romanesque buildings in nearly every village.
Read the complete Cova del Cogulló write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cova del Cogulló is where the day begins. Next is Balma del Pantà.
2. Balma del Pantà
Camarasa is a small town beneath a big wall of water. The dam across the Noguera Pallaresa, built in the early twentieth century, holds back a long reservoir, the Pantà de Camarasa, in a dry, rocky corner of Lleida where the pre-Pyrenees fall toward the Ebro plain. The cliffs rise steep and ochre above the water, and in the folds of that rock, shelters hold painted scenes from long before there was a dam or even a town. The Balma del Pantà is one of the sites of the Levantine rock art of the Iberian Mediterranean, a tradition listed by UNESCO in 1998.
Read the complete Balma del Pantà write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Balma del Pantà comes up about 53 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cova dels Vilasos o dels Vilars.
3. Cova dels Vilasos o dels Vilars
Os de Balaguer is a small village on the edge of the pre-Pyrenean hills in the Noguera district of Lleida, and the Cova dels Vilasos, also known as the Cova dels Vilars, lies just outside it. The site is one of the painted rock shelters of Catalonia counted within the Mediterranean rock art group protected by UNESCO, and its figures are small and reddish, drawn by people who lived from hunting and gathering in what was then a far wilder landscape. Like its neighbours it is protected and rarely dramatic at first sight; give your eyes a moment in the shade and the shapes begin to come out of the stone.
Read the complete Cova dels Vilasos o dels Vilars write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 88 km into the recorded legs you reach Cova dels Vilasos o dels Vilars. Next is back through Balma del Pantà.
4. back through Balma del Pantà
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Balma del Pantà write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Balma del Pantà, late in the day. Next is Cova del Cogulló.
5. Cova del Cogulló
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cova del Cogulló write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Cova del Cogulló. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Cova del Cogulló to Balma del Pantà
Cova del Cogulló → Balma del Pantà is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Balma del Pantà to Cova dels Vilasos o dels Vilars
Balma del Pantà → Cova dels Vilasos o dels Vilars is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cova dels Vilasos o dels Vilars to back through Balma del Pantà
Cova dels Vilasos o dels Vilars → back through Balma del Pantà is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Balma del Pantà to Cova del Cogulló
back through Balma del Pantà → Cova del Cogulló is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.