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 345 km round trip from Moratalla - roughly 8 h 42 in the saddle. The stops in between: Las Casas de las Ingenieros Il, Diosa madre, Abrigo del Engarbo and back through Diosa madre. 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.
The border between Albacete and Murcia runs through a tangle of mountains here, and the villages of Socovos, Férez and Letur sit among them like small islands. The Cueva del Esquilo is one of the painted rock shelters in these hills, a reminder that people lived and hunted in the Segura mountains thousands of years before any border existed. Like most of the rock art in the region, it is protected and best visited with local guidance; the town halls and tourist offices of the surrounding villages are the place to ask.
Read the complete Cueva del Esquilo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cueva del Esquilo is where the day begins. Next is Las Casas de las Ingenieros Il.
Water from these mountains ends up in the taps of Cartagena. The Taibilla river, which rises in the hills above Nerpio, feeds the canals of the Mancomunidad de los Canales del Taibilla, built in the twentieth century to supply towns across Murcia and beyond, and a name like the engineers' houses hints at how much that project marked the valley. Las Casas de los Ingenieros II is a rock shelter near Nerpio, one of the many painted sites in this remote corner of the Sierra de Segura.
Read the complete Las Casas de las Ingenieros Il write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Las Casas de las Ingenieros Il comes up about 24 km into the recorded legs. Next is Diosa madre.
Some places on a map feel remote; this one actually is. The point named Diosa Madre, mother goddess, lies in the mountains of the Sierra de Segura, in the far southwest of Albacete province, roughly sixteen kilometres from Yeste and not far from the border with Jaén. The mountains themselves are the real experience.
Read the complete Diosa madre write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 90 km into the recorded legs you reach Diosa madre. Next is Abrigo del Engarbo.
Deep in the Sierra de Segura in the northeast of Jaén province, close to where the Segura river is born, the Engarbo rock shelters hide a few small painted figures under limestone overhangs. They belong to the great serial UNESCO listing of Levantine rock art, prehistoric paintings found along the mountains of eastern Spain, with stylised humans and animals in red ochre that have survived thousands of years of sun, frost and goats. The shelters are modest and fragile, often fenced, and visits usually need to be arranged locally, so treat them as a reason to explore this remote corner rather than a guaranteed sight.
Read the complete Abrigo del Engarbo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo del Engarbo, about halfway. Next is back through Diosa madre.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Diosa madre write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Diosa madre sits at 106 km, about halfway. Next is back through Las Casas de las Ingenieros Il.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Las Casas de las Ingenieros Il write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Las Casas de las Ingenieros Il comes up about 320 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cueva del Esquilo.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cueva del Esquilo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cueva del Esquilo closes the day.
Cueva del Esquilo → Las Casas de las Ingenieros Il is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Las Casas de las Ingenieros Il → Diosa madre is 66 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Diosa madre → Abrigo del Engarbo is 70 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo del Engarbo → back through Diosa madre is 94 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Diosa madre → back through Las Casas de las Ingenieros Il is 66 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Las Casas de las Ingenieros Il → Cueva del Esquilo is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.