Cueva Negra del Bosque and Penya roja o Ulls de Canals
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
288 km
Riding-time estimate
7 h 00
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.
288 km from Alpera to Alpera, about 7 h 00 of riding. It goes by way of Barranco del Cabezo del moro, Abric de Gontrán, Penya roja o Ulls de Canals and back through Abric de Gontrán. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 850 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Cueva Negra del Bosque
The Cueva Negra del Bosque lies about five and a half kilometres from Alpera, on the high plateau where La Mancha begins to fold into the hills of Valencia, and it is one of the painted shelters of the district. It carries rock art in the Levantine tradition, protected by UNESCO as part of the rock art of the Mediterranean basin in Spain, and the ride links it with the Abric de Lambert, a site far to the east. Alpera is the best known name of the area, because of the Cueva de la Vieja, but there are other shelters scattered in the limestone gullies.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cueva Negra del Bosque is where the day begins. Next is Barranco del Cabezo del moro.
2. Barranco del Cabezo del moro
Almansa is one of those towns you see from the motorway and do not stop at, and that is a mistake. Its castle is spectacular, a Gothic fortress built on a sharp limestone outcrop right in the middle of town, looking exactly like a child's drawing of a castle. Around it spreads a wide plain at about seven hundred metres, the meeting point of the Valencian, Murcian and Castilian lands, and a few kilometres out in the surrounding hills lies the ravine known as the Barranco del Cabezo del Moro.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Barranco del Cabezo del moro comes up about 46 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abric de Gontrán.
3. Abric de Gontrán
Head south-west from Xàtiva along the old road to Castile and you climb gently into a corridor between two mountain ranges, the Serra Grossa on one side and the Serra de Enguera on the other. The town of Moixent sits where the corridor narrows, with Vallada just downstream and the vineyards of Fontanars dels Alforins on the plateau beyond. The Abric de Gontran lies in the hills just outside Moixent.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 101 km into the recorded legs you reach Abric de Gontrán. Next is Penya roja o Ulls de Canals.
4. Penya roja o Ulls de Canals
This is the country of toys and herbs, an unusual pairing. Onil and Ibi, in the inland hills of Alicante, grew up as centres of toy-making, starting with tin and later plastic, and the local museum in Ibi tells how a mountain valley became a world supplier of dolls and games. On the other side, the Sierra de Mariola, a natural park rich in aromatic plants, supplies the herbs for a local liqueur and for traditional remedies. Bocairent, a handsome old town on a rocky spur, has houses built right at the edge of a gorge and a set of man-made caves carved into the cliff, the Covetes dels Moros.