CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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 Aldeaquemada it runs 522 km to Aldeaquemada; allow about 9 h 33 of riding. It goes by way of Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda, Abrigo del.melgar, Letreros de los mártires and back through Abrigo del.melgar. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,400 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Sierra Morena is the long, dark range that separates the plains of La Mancha from the valley of the Guadalquivir, and the high-road gateway between them is the gorge of Despeñaperros, a few kilometres to the east of Aldeaquemada. The name means something like the pass where dogs are thrown off the cliff, which tells you how the Castilians felt about it. The Cueva de Apolinario is a rock shelter in these hills, and belongs to the painted shelters of the Sierra Morena, with figures that experts date back several thousand years. The area also holds the rock art of the Mediterranean Basin, as protected by UNESCO.
Read the complete Cueva de Apolinario write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cueva de Apolinario is where the day begins. Next is Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda.
Úbeda stands on a ridge above an ocean of olive trees. In every direction, the province of Jaén rolls away in silver-green rows, millions of trees planted in geometric lines up to the horizon, and on this sea floats a town of honey-coloured stone that looks as if it had been lifted from Florence. In the sixteenth century, powerful local families who served the Spanish crown, above all Francisco de los Cobos, secretary to Emperor Charles V, poured their wealth into palaces and churches here, and the architect Andrés de Vandelvira gave them a Renaissance style of rare purity. Úbeda and its smaller neighbour Baeza were inscribed together on the UNESCO list in 2003.
Read the complete Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda comes up about 110 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abrigo del.melgar, 62 km on.
Quesada is a white town at the foot of the Sierra de Cazorla, in the province of Jaén, surrounded by an ocean of olive trees. The groves stretch to the horizon in every direction, a landscape that makes Jaén the world's largest producer of olive oil. Behind the town, the mountains rise steeply, with pine forest and limestone cliffs, and the Guadalquivir river has its source not far away. The Abrigo del Melgar lies in the hills just outside the town.
Read the complete Abrigo del.melgar write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 156 km into the recorded legs you reach Abrigo del.melgar. Next is Letreros de los mártires.
Out in the high north-east of Granada province, Huéscar feels a long way from the Alhambra and the beaches of the Costa Tropical. This is the altiplano, a broad upland of wheat fields, almond trees and pale badlands at around a thousand metres, ringed by mountains, with the great limestone hump of La Sagra rising to the north. The rock shelter called Letreros de los Mártires lies in this country, a dozen or so kilometres from the town.
Read the complete Letreros de los mártires write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Letreros de los mártires, about halfway. Next is back through Abrigo del.melgar, 62 km on.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo del.melgar write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Abrigo del.melgar sits at 248 km, about halfway. Next is back through Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda comes up about 413 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cueva de Apolinario.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cueva de Apolinario write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cueva de Apolinario closes the day.
Cueva de Apolinario → Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda is 110 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda → Abrigo del.melgar is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo del.melgar → Letreros de los mártires is 92 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Letreros de los mártires → back through Abrigo del.melgar is 118 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Abrigo del.melgar → back through Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda → Cueva de Apolinario is 109 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.