Coveta del mig- Abric I and Barranc de Beniali- Abric l

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Coveta del mig- Abric I

   Otos is a tiny village in the Vall d'Albaida, in the south of Valencia province, and it has an unusual claim to fame: its walls are decorated with dozens of sundials, designed by artists and scattered through the streets, making the village a kind of open-air museum of time. Nearby, in the hills around Otos, Bèlgida and Ráfol de Salem, prehistoric people left paintings in rock shelters, and the Coveta del Mig is one of the sites included in the World Heritage site of the rock art of the Mediterranean Basin. The art here includes schematic figures, simplified human and animal forms, and the area is part of a rich zone of rock art that extends into the mountains of the Alicante province to the south.

   Read the complete Coveta del mig- Abric I write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Coveta del mig- Abric I is where the day begins. Next is Coves Roges- Abric I.

2. 2. Coves Roges- Abric I

   Planes looks like a village that has been arguing with gravity for a thousand years and winning. Its houses climb a hill crowned by the remains of a Moorish castle, and the whole place overlooks a valley of olive and almond terraces that falls toward the Beniarrés reservoir. The Coves Roges, the red caves, lie in the broken limestone country around here, and the first of their shelters carries prehistoric paintings, part of the scattered rock art of the Valencian mountains. The colour in the name is not poetry: the rock itself is stained a warm iron red.

   Read the complete Coves Roges- Abric I write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Coves Roges- Abric I comes up about 41 km into the recorded legs. Next is Barranc de Beniali- Abric l.

3. 3. Barranc de Beniali- Abric l

   The Vall de Gallinera is one of those valleys that seems to exist slightly outside time. Running east to west in the mountains of northern Alicante, it holds eight tiny villages strung along a single road, terraced slopes of cherry trees, and above them limestone ridges cut by steep ravines. The Barranc de Beniali is one of those ravines, and in a shelter on its walls prehistoric people painted figures that are now part of the World Heritage site of Levantine rock art. The valley next door, the Vall d'Ebo, is just as wild, and its Cova del Rull is a show cave full of stalactites.

   Read the complete Barranc de Beniali- Abric l write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 70 km into the recorded legs you reach Barranc de Beniali- Abric l. Next is back through Coves Roges- Abric I.

4. 4. back through Coves Roges- Abric I

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Coves Roges- Abric I write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Coves Roges- Abric I, late in the day. Next is Coveta del mig- Abric I.

5. 5. Coveta del mig- Abric I

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Coveta del mig- Abric I write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Coveta del mig- Abric I. That is the ride.