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.
A 531 km round trip from Socovos - roughly 12 h 14 in the saddle. The stops in between: Abrigo de la Rambla de Pedro Izquierdo, Río frío, Abrigo del.melgar and Úbeda. 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.
This is the country of the upper Segura, where Albacete and Murcia meet, and it is among the least visited corners of southern Spain. The river cuts through limestone sierras, with pine forests, reedy banks and small terraced fields where almond and olive trees grow, and the villages, Socovos and Férez among them, are small, white and quiet. The scale of the land is bigger than its population, and in summer the cicadas are the loudest thing you will hear.
Read the complete Cueva de los Cascarones write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cueva de los Cascarones is where the day begins. Next is Abrigo de la Rambla de Pedro Izquierdo.
A rambla is a dry riverbed that only runs after storms, and the Rambla de Pedro Izquierdo is one of many that cut into the limestone hills around Nerpio, in the remote south-western corner of Albacete. In a rock shelter above it, prehistoric people left paintings in the Levantine style, small, lively figures of people and animals, and the site is one of the many shelters around Nerpio that belong to the UNESCO-listed Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula. Visits are normally arranged through the village, and a guide will know which shelters are accessible and when the light is right for seeing the faded pigment.
Read the complete Abrigo de la Rambla de Pedro Izquierdo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo de la Rambla de Pedro Izquierdo comes up about 46 km into the recorded legs. Next is Río frío.
Cold water is a rare luxury in southern Spain, and a stream called Río Frío promises exactly that. It is a land of pine forests, limestone crags, deep river gorges and tiny villages, and the painted rock shelters scattered through these hills are part of the UNESCO listing of rock art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula.
Read the complete Río frío write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 100 km into the recorded legs you reach Río frío. Next is Abrigo del.melgar, 46 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.
Abrigo del.melgar, about halfway. Next is Úbeda.
In the middle of an ocean of olive trees, Úbeda rises on a ridge like a Renaissance city that took a wrong turn on its way to Florence. This town in the province of Jaén, along with its neighbour Baeza, was listed by UNESCO in 2003 for its sixteenth-century architecture, much of it the work of Andrés de Vandelvira, who built palaces, churches and chapels for wealthy noble families and royal officials. The Plaza Vázquez de Molina is the showpiece, a harmonious square lined with palaces and the extraordinary Sacra Capilla del Salvador, a funerary chapel built for Francisco de los Cobos, secretary to Emperor Charles V.
Read the complete Úbeda write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Úbeda sits at 186 km, about halfway. Next is back through Abrigo del.melgar, 46 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 comes up about 314 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Río frío.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Río frío write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 426 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Río frío. Next is back through Abrigo de la Rambla de Pedro Izquierdo.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo de la Rambla de Pedro Izquierdo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Abrigo de la Rambla de Pedro Izquierdo, late in the day. Next is Cueva de los Cascarones.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cueva de los Cascarones write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 531 km.
Cueva de los Cascarones → Abrigo de la Rambla de Pedro Izquierdo is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo de la Rambla de Pedro Izquierdo → Río frío is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Río frío → Abrigo del.melgar is 119 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Abrigo del.melgar → Úbeda is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Úbeda → back through Abrigo del.melgar is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abrigo del.melgar → back through Río frío is 112 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Río frío → back through Abrigo de la Rambla de Pedro Izquierdo is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abrigo de la Rambla de Pedro Izquierdo → Cueva de los Cascarones is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.