Why this ride
A 285 km round trip from Tivissa - roughly 5 h 37 in the saddle. It goes by way of Abric d'Esquarterades II, Coveta de montegordo and back through Abric d'Esquarterades II. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Cova del Pi and Coveta de montegordo
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 285 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 37
- 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 Pi
The Ebro takes a long turn through southern Catalonia before it reaches the sea, and in this stretch it flows wide and slow between orchards and dry hills, past old towns on rocky promontories. Miravet, with fewer than eight hundred people, is the most dramatic, a cluster of ochre houses stacked up below a Templar castle built in the twelfth century, with the river curving below. The castle was one of the main strongholds of the Knights Templar in the region, and in 1308, when the order was suppressed, its defenders held out for a time against the king's army. A small flat barge, the barca de Miravet, has long carried people across the river on a cable, and the crossing is a neat way to see the village from the water.
Read the complete Cova del Pi write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cova del Pi is where the day begins. Next is Abric d'Esquarterades II.
2. Abric d'Esquarterades II
Ulldecona stands where the foothills of the Ports de Tortosa-Beseit slope toward the plain of the Ebro, in the south of Catalonia, and it is a town of about six thousand people with olive groves in every direction. The Serra de Godall rises behind, and under its cliffs, the shelters known as the Abrics de l'Ermita, near the hermitage of La Pietat, hold prehistoric paintings, with a small visitor centre that makes it one of the easier places to see this art. Esquarterades is another shelter in the same tradition, part of the Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin listed by UNESCO in 1998.
Read the complete Abric d'Esquarterades II write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abric d'Esquarterades II comes up about 75 km into the recorded legs. Next is Coveta de montegordo.
3. Coveta de montegordo
Up in the dry limestone uplands of inland Castellón, the Valltorta and Gasulla ravines hold one of the densest concentrations of Levantine rock art in Spain, and the Coveta de Montegordo is one of its many small shelters. Painted under rock overhangs some seven or eight thousand years ago, perhaps more, the figures here are tiny, often no taller than a finger, yet astonishingly alive: archers running with bows drawn, goats and deer leaping, hunters following wounded animals. The whole region is part of the Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin listing inscribed by UNESCO in 1998, and the famous Cova dels Cavalls in the Valltorta shows a deer hunt with a line of archers waiting in ambush.
Read the complete Coveta de montegordo write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 151 km into the recorded legs you reach Coveta de montegordo. Next is back through Abric d'Esquarterades II.
4. back through Abric d'Esquarterades II
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abric d'Esquarterades II write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Abric d'Esquarterades II, late in the day. Next is Cova del Pi.
5. Cova del Pi
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cova del Pi 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 Pi. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Cova del Pi to Abric d'Esquarterades II
Cova del Pi → Abric d'Esquarterades II is 75 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abric d'Esquarterades II to Coveta de montegordo
Abric d'Esquarterades II → Coveta de montegordo is 76 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Coveta de montegordo to back through Abric d'Esquarterades II
Coveta de montegordo → back through Abric d'Esquarterades II is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abric d'Esquarterades II to Cova del Pi
back through Abric d'Esquarterades II → Cova del Pi is 77 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.