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.
413 km from l'Ametlla de Mar to l'Ametlla de Mar, about 8 h 28 of riding. It goes by way of Abric de masets, Abric de la Tenalla, Abric de la mostela and La Covassa. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,200 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Cova del Taller
South of Tortosa the Ebro river slows down and spreads into one of the great wetlands of the western Mediterranean, but a few kilometres inland the country is hilly and dry, with limestone outcrops and terraced olives. Cova del Taller sits somewhere in this landscape of the Baix Ebre, near El Perelló and L'Ampolla, and is one of the shelters that carry prehistoric paintings in Catalonia.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cova del Taller is where the day begins. Next is Abric de masets.
2. Abric de masets
The Montsià range rises like a wall behind the Ebro delta in southern Catalonia, a ridge of grey limestone with steep slopes and rocky crags, and in a shelter on its flanks, near Santa Bàrbara and Masdenverge, the Abric de Masets holds traces of prehistoric paintings. It is part of the World Heritage Site of Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin. The paintings here are faded and fragmentary, but the site is a reminder that people have lived and hunted in this landscape for thousands of years.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abric de masets comes up about 46 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abric de la Tenalla.
3. Abric de la Tenalla
The Tinença de Benifassà is one of the wildest corners of the Valencian region, a cluster of tiny villages in the mountains where Valencia, Catalonia and Aragon meet, and the Abric de la Tenalla lies on its southeastern edge, near Rosell. It is one of the many rock shelters in this area with prehistoric paintings, part of the UNESCO-listed rock art of the Mediterranean Basin, and the nearby Serra de Godall and the Ulldecona shelters to the east are among the most important sites in Catalonia. The landscape is dramatic: limestone cliffs, deep gorges, pine and holm oak forests, and abandoned terraces where shepherds once grazed their flocks.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 92 km into the recorded legs you reach Abric de la Tenalla. Next is Abric de la mostela.
4. Abric de la mostela
The hill country around Albocàsser and Catí, in the north of Castellón province, is a landscape of terraced slopes, almond trees and limestone ravines that few visitors cross on their way from the coast to Morella.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abric de la mostela, about halfway. Next is La Covassa.
5. La Covassa
Culla sits on a narrow rocky crest in the Alt Maestrat, the inland highlands of Castellón, its houses wrapped around the remains of a castle that once controlled a large swathe of these mountains. The Knights Templar held it in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and the village still has the feel of a lookout, with views in every direction over terraced slopes, stone walls and empty ridges. La Covassa, just below the village, is one of the many rock shelters in this part of Valencia that hold prehistoric paintings, part of the Mediterranean rock art group that UNESCO protects across eastern Spain.