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 232 km round trip from Ayna - roughly 4 h 40 in the saddle. It goes by way of Solana del molinico, Andragulla I, friso de los Gitanos o Abrigo del Cazador and back through Andragulla I. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,350 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Ayna is a village of white houses clinging to the walls of a deep gorge carved by the Mundo river, in the Sierra de Alcaraz in the southwest of Albacete province. Its setting is so dramatic that it is sometimes called the Little Switzerland of La Mancha, and it was the backdrop for the cult Spanish film Amanece, que no es poco, a surreal comedy shot here in the late 1980s. A few kilometres away, in a rocky ravine, the Cueva del Niño holds something rare for this part of Spain: Palaeolithic paintings of deer, ibex and horses, much older than the Levantine figures painted later on the same walls. It is part of the UNESCO listing of Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula, and access is restricted to protect the paintings.
Read the complete Cueva del Niño write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cueva del Niño is where the day begins. Next is Solana del molinico.
Socovos is the sort of village you only find by getting a little lost: a cluster of white houses below a ruined castle in the far southeast of Albacete province, where the plains of La Mancha give way to the tangled ridges of the Sierra de Segura. Solana del Molinico, close by, is one of the rock-art shelters in this corner of Spain that belong to the UNESCO listing for Levantine rock art. The word solana means a sun-facing slope, and many of these painted overhangs face south, catching the warmth on winter days just as they must have done when hunters and gatherers sheltered here.
Read the complete Solana del molinico write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Solana del molinico comes up about 42 km into the recorded legs. Next is Andragulla I.
In the far north-west corner of the Region of Murcia, where the land climbs towards the mountains of Albacete and Jaén, lies Moratalla, a town of whitewashed houses piled up a hillside beneath a castle tower. Its countryside is surprisingly wild for Murcia: pine forests, rivers, gorges and limestone ridges, some of the greenest land in a famously dry region. The rock shelter of Andragulla is one of many painted overhangs scattered through these hills, part of the Levantine rock art sites inscribed together by UNESCO. Many are protected behind fences and need a guide; the tourist office in Moratalla can advise.
Read the complete Andragulla I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 89 km into the recorded legs you reach Andragulla I. Next is friso de los Gitanos o Abrigo del Cazador.
Nerpio sits at about a thousand metres in the Sierra de Segura foothills, at the far south-west corner of Albacete province, in a high valley that feels closer to Andalusia than to La Mancha. It is an out-of-the-way place, with orchards of apples, almond and walnut trees in the valley bottoms and bare limestone peaks above. The area is famous among specialists for its rock art: dozens of shelters in the surrounding gorges hold paintings of the Levantine and Schematic styles, and they are part of the Mediterranean-arc group UNESCO listed in 1998. The Friso de los Gitanos, the Gypsies' Frieze, is one of the better known, and the name tells you that locals have been looking at it for a long time.
Read the complete friso de los Gitanos o Abrigo del Cazador write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
friso de los Gitanos o Abrigo del Cazador, about halfway. Next is back through Andragulla I.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Andragulla I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Andragulla I sits at 121 km, about halfway. Next is back through Solana del molinico.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Solana del molinico write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Solana del molinico comes up about 190 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cueva del Niño.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cueva del Niño write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cueva del Niño closes the day.
Cueva del Niño → Solana del molinico is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Solana del molinico → Andragulla I is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Andragulla I → friso de los Gitanos o Abrigo del Cazador is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
friso de los Gitanos o Abrigo del Cazador → back through Andragulla I is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Andragulla I → back through Solana del molinico is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Solana del molinico → Cueva del Niño is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.