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.
From Benimassot it runs 499 km to Benimassot; allow about 11 h 26 of riding. It goes by way of Abric de la monja, Abric del Garrofero, Barranco del Cabezo del moro and Peñon de los machos. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Coves Roges- Abric II
The Serpis river runs through the green, folded country of the Comtat, west of Alcoi, and its valley is one of the prettiest in the Valencian interior. Planes, Benimarfull and Beniarrés are small villages in the hills, farming olive and almond and cherry, and the old Moorish heritage is easy to find in the narrow streets and the names. The Coves Roges, the Red Caves, are a series of rock shelters in the nearby cliffs, and they hold paintings that are part of the Mediterranean Basin rock art listed by UNESCO in 1998. Abric II is one of them, and the red paint on the rock is faint but clear.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Coves Roges- Abric II is where the day begins. Next is Abric de la monja.
2. Abric de la monja
Ontinyent sits in the Vall d'Albaida, in the south of Valencia, a town of about thirty-eight thousand people with a long textile tradition that goes back to wool, blankets and, more recently, home textiles. The Clariano river runs through it, and the hills around are wrinkled limestone, covered in pine, holm oak and wild herbs. In the shelter of those hills, small rock overhangs, called abrics here, carry paintings made by prehistoric people, and the Abric de la Monja is one of them, part of the Mediterranean Basin rock art that UNESCO listed in 1998.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abric de la monja comes up about 42 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abric del Garrofero.
3. Abric del Garrofero
Bicorp is a small village in the Canal de Navarrés, a valley in the interior of Valencia province walled in by rugged mountains and deep ravines. The surrounding Macizo del Caroig is one of the largest wild areas in the Valencian Community, a vast tableland of pine, scrub and gorges cut by the Júcar's tributaries. The Abric del Garrofero, the shelter of the carob tree, lies in the hills near Bicorp, Quesa and Navarrés.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 95 km into the recorded legs you reach Abric del Garrofero. Next is Barranco del Cabezo del moro.
4. Barranco del Cabezo del moro
Almansa is one of those towns you see from the motorway and do not stop at, and that is a mistake. Its castle is spectacular, a Gothic fortress built on a sharp limestone outcrop right in the middle of town, looking exactly like a child's drawing of a castle. Around it spreads a wide plain at about seven hundred metres, the meeting point of the Valencian, Murcian and Castilian lands, and a few kilometres out in the surrounding hills lies the ravine known as the Barranco del Cabezo del Moro.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Barranco del Cabezo del moro, about halfway. Next is Peñon de los machos.
5. Peñon de los machos
Cofrentes is a village at the confluence of two rivers, the Júcar and the Cabriel, in the interior of Valencia province, and it has a curious mix of attractions. Above it stands a castle on a crag. Nearby rises the Cerro de Agrás, the only recently active volcano in the Valencian Community, a dark cone of basalt in a landscape of limestone. And just outside the village, the cooling towers of the Cofrentes nuclear power station send plumes of steam into the sky. The Peñón de los Machos, a rocky outcrop with painted shelters, lies in the hills between Cofrentes, Jalance and Jarafuel.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 499 km.
Leg by leg
Coves Roges- Abric II to Abric de la monja
Coves Roges- Abric II → Abric de la monja is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abric de la monja to Abric del Garrofero
Abric de la monja → Abric del Garrofero is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abric del Garrofero to Barranco del Cabezo del moro
Abric del Garrofero → Barranco del Cabezo del moro is 89 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Barranco del Cabezo del moro to Peñon de los machos
Barranco del Cabezo del moro → Peñon de los machos is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Peñon de los machos to back through Barranco del Cabezo del moro
Peñon de los machos → back through Barranco del Cabezo del moro is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Barranco del Cabezo del moro to back through Abric del Garrofero
back through Barranco del Cabezo del moro → back through Abric del Garrofero is 95 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abric del Garrofero to back through Abric de la monja
back through Abric del Garrofero → back through Abric de la monja is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abric de la monja to Coves Roges- Abric II
back through Abric de la monja → Coves Roges- Abric II is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.