Covacho de Palluala and Hayedos de Navarra - Aztaparreta
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
454 km
Riding-time estimate
8 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.
454 km from Alquézar to Alquézar, about 8 h 08 of riding. On the way it passes Abrigo de Santa Eulaliade la Peña, Abrigo de Los Gitanos, Cueva de los moros. and Hayedos de Navarra - Aztaparreta. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,450 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. Covacho de Palluala
Covacho is the Aragonese word for a small cave or overhang, and Palluala is one of the hillside patches near Alquézar that carry the old farming names of the valley. The shelter, a mere kilometre and a bit from the village, is probably the nearest to it of all the painted rocks on this list, which means you can leave the motorbike in the village and walk instead of making a project of it. As with its neighbours it belongs to the Levantine rock art of the Spanish Mediterranean, listed by UNESCO in 1998.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Covacho de Palluala is where the day begins. Next is Abrigo de Santa Eulaliade la Peña.
2. Abrigo de Santa Eulaliade la Peña
Just north of Huesca, where the flat cereal land of the Hoya suddenly rears up into the first limestone walls of the Pre-Pyrenees, lies the little village of Nueno and, above it, the rock shelter named after Santa Eulalia de la Peña. This is the southern edge of the Sierra de Guara country, a landscape of gorges, conglomerate cliffs and scrub where griffon vultures ride the thermals and the light comes hard off pale stone.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abrigo de Santa Eulaliade la Peña comes up about 71 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abrigo de Los Gitanos.
3. Abrigo de Los Gitanos
The road north-west out of Huesca toward Pamplona runs along the foot of a dramatic wall of rock. To the north are the Pre-Pyrenean sierras, and studded along them are some of Aragón's most striking sights: the Castle of Loarre, a superbly preserved Romanesque fortress on a spur, and the Mallos de Riglos, huge red conglomerate towers rising straight out of the hillside. The rock shelter known as the Abrigo de los Gitanos lies in this country, between Ayerbe, Loarre and Luesia.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 136 km into the recorded legs you reach Abrigo de Los Gitanos. Next is Cueva de los moros., 44 km on.
4. Cueva de los moros.
There is a Cueva de los Moros in half the valleys of Spain. Every unexplained cave, ruin or rock shelter used to be credited to the Moors, and this one, in the hills of the western Aragonese Pyrenees between the valleys of Hecho and Ansó, is a rock shelter with ancient traces. You should approach it as an excuse to spend time in two of the most beautiful and least spoiled valleys of the Pyrenees, rather than as a monument.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cueva de los moros., about halfway. Next is Hayedos de Navarra - Aztaparreta.
5. Hayedos de Navarra - Aztaparreta
Aztaparreta is a beech forest that has been left alone. High in the Pyrenees of Navarre, at the head of the Roncal valley, in the karst massif of Larra-Belagua on the border with France, this forest has never been logged, and its trees, some of them centuries old, grow, die and decay naturally. It is one of the components of the Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe, a World Heritage Site that brings together beech forests from across the continent, from the Carpathians to the Pyrenees. Walking through it is like entering a cathedral, with tall grey trunks, a green canopy high above, and a thick carpet of moss and fallen leaves.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 454 km.
Leg by leg
Covacho de Palluala to Abrigo de Santa Eulaliade la Peña
Covacho de Palluala → Abrigo de Santa Eulaliade la Peña is 71 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo de Santa Eulaliade la Peña to Abrigo de Los Gitanos
Abrigo de Santa Eulaliade la Peña → Abrigo de Los Gitanos is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo de Los Gitanos to Cueva de los moros.
Abrigo de Los Gitanos → Cueva de los moros. is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cueva de los moros. to Hayedos de Navarra - Aztaparreta
Cueva de los moros. → Hayedos de Navarra - Aztaparreta is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hayedos de Navarra - Aztaparreta to back through Cueva de los moros.
Hayedos de Navarra - Aztaparreta → back through Cueva de los moros. is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cueva de los moros. to back through Abrigo de Los Gitanos
back through Cueva de los moros. → back through Abrigo de Los Gitanos is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abrigo de Los Gitanos to back through Abrigo de Santa Eulaliade la Peña
back through Abrigo de Los Gitanos → back through Abrigo de Santa Eulaliade la Peña is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abrigo de Santa Eulaliade la Peña to Covacho de Palluala
back through Abrigo de Santa Eulaliade la Peña → Covacho de Palluala is 72 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.