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 220 km round trip from Quesada - roughly 6 h 21 in the saddle. The stops in between: Úbeda, Cerro de la Caldera and back through Úbeda. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,050 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
To understand this part of Jaén, you need to remember that it was a border. For two and a half centuries after the great Christian victory at Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212, the frontier between Castile and the Muslim kingdom of Granada ran through the mountains to the south and east of here, and the towns of Quesada and Cazorla were fortified outposts. Castle towers still crown hills all over the province, and the old name for the area, Adelantamiento de Cazorla, tells you that it was ruled for a long time by the archbishops of Toledo as a military lordship.
Read the complete Cueva del Clarillo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cueva del Clarillo is where the day begins. 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 comes up about 48 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cerro de la Caldera.
The Sierra Morena marks the end of Andalusia, the hilly rampart that the old road from Madrid had to cross before dropping into the Guadalquivir lowlands. Cerro de la Caldera, a hill near Aldeaquemada in the north-east of Jaén province, sits in the heart of this frontier, in a quiet landscape of holm oaks, cork oaks, rockrose scrub and sandstone outcrops. Rock shelters in these hills hold schematic and Levantine paintings, and the area is part of the wider World Heritage listing of Iberian rock art.
Read the complete Cerro de la Caldera write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 111 km into the recorded legs you reach Cerro de la Caldera. Next is back through Úbeda.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Úbeda write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Úbeda, late in the day. Next is Cueva del Clarillo.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cueva del Clarillo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Cueva del Clarillo. That is the ride.
Cueva del Clarillo → Úbeda is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Úbeda → Cerro de la Caldera is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cerro de la Caldera → back through Úbeda is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Úbeda → Cueva del Clarillo is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.