Why this ride
487 km from Calaceite to Calaceite, about 10 h 10 of riding. The stops in between: Valcomuna, Val de Caballé I, Mallata C and Les Coves. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Cueva de la font de la Bernarda and Les Coves
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 487 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 10 h 10
- 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Cueva de la font de la Bernarda
Ask a rider where the best quiet roads in Aragon are and, sooner or later, someone says Matarraña. It is the river and the district at the southern end of Teruel province, a land of olive terraces, almond orchards, honey-coloured villages and low limestone ridges, and people in Zaragoza call it the Tuscany of Aragon without any irony. The Cueva de la Font de la Bernarda sits in the hills a few kilometres from Calaceite, with Valderrobres just over the hill and the Catalan border not far beyond.
Read the complete Cueva de la font de la Bernarda write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cueva de la font de la Bernarda is where the day begins. Next is Valcomuna.
2. Valcomuna
Lower Aragon is a country of dry hills, olive groves and red earth, and in its ravines people painted on the rock thousands of years ago. Valcomuna is one of those rock art sites, between Alcañiz and Caspe near the village of Maella, part of the great family of painted shelters running down Spain's Mediterranean side that UNESCO listed as the Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula. The figures in this tradition are small and lively, archers, deer, goats and people in motion, painted in red and black under overhangs where the weather could not wash them away.
Read the complete Valcomuna write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Valcomuna comes up about 60 km into the recorded legs. Next is Val de Caballé I.
3. Val de Caballé I
Here the Ebro stops being a river and becomes a lake. Behind the great dams at Mequinenza and Riba-roja, the water backs up for kilometres into the dry hills of eastern Aragon, and locals call the reservoir the Mar de Aragón, the sea of Aragon. Val de Caballé is a gully in the hills south of the water, between Mequinenza, Nonaspe and Fabara, part of a scatter of prehistoric rock shelters in this corner where Aragon, Catalonia and the Matarranya meet.
Read the complete Val de Caballé I write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 100 km into the recorded legs you reach Val de Caballé I. Next is Mallata C.
4. Mallata C
Ontiñena is a small farming village on the Alcanadre river, at the edge of the Monegros, the dry, wind-scoured steppe of central Aragón. Out in the ravines around it, prehistoric people left painted figures in rock shelters, among them the site labelled Mallata C, one of the many small components of the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean rock art. The paintings are small, simple and best seen with a local guide, and the walk there crosses a landscape that seems built for epic films: gypsum hills, eroded gullies and wide skies.
Read the complete Mallata C write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mallata C, about halfway. Next is Les Coves.
5. Les Coves
The western edge of Catalonia, around Lleida, is fruit country. Irrigation canals bring water from the Pyrenean rivers to a broad, flat plain of orchards growing apples, pears and peaches, laid out in neat lines that stretch to the horizon. Les Coves lies in this area, close to the Aragonese border, between Alfarràs, Albelda and Algerri, where the valley of the Noguera Ribagorçana spills out of the hills and onto the plain.
Read the complete Les Coves write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Les Coves sits at 189 km, about halfway. Next is back through Mallata C.
6. back through Mallata C
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mallata C write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Mallata C comes up about 313 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Val de Caballé I.
7. back through Val de Caballé I
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Val de Caballé I write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 387 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Val de Caballé I. Next is back through Valcomuna.
8. back through Valcomuna
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Valcomuna write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Valcomuna, late in the day. Next is Cueva de la font de la Bernarda.
9. Cueva de la font de la Bernarda
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cueva de la font de la Bernarda write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 487 km.
Leg by leg
Cueva de la font de la Bernarda to Valcomuna
Cueva de la font de la Bernarda → Valcomuna is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Valcomuna to Val de Caballé I
Valcomuna → Val de Caballé I is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Val de Caballé I to Mallata C
Val de Caballé I → Mallata C is 66 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mallata C to Les Coves
Mallata C → Les Coves is 77 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Les Coves to back through Mallata C
Les Coves → back through Mallata C is 70 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Mallata C to back through Val de Caballé I
back through Mallata C → back through Val de Caballé I is 74 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Val de Caballé I to back through Valcomuna
back through Val de Caballé I → back through Valcomuna is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Valcomuna to Cueva de la font de la Bernarda
back through Valcomuna → Cueva de la font de la Bernarda is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
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