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 293 km round trip from María - roughly 5 h 26 in the saddle. On the way it passes Cueva del Esquilo, Abrigo del milano and back through Cueva del Esquilo. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,300 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Here the high plateau of northern Almería feels as far from the beach resorts as it is possible to be. The land is a wide, dry tableland of cereal fields, almond groves and scrubby pine, at about a thousand metres, with the Sierra de María rising above it in bare limestone ridges. The little village of María and the towns of Vélez Rubio and Vélez-Blanco are the centres of the district, known as Los Vélez, and the shelters of the area, including this one, hold prehistoric paintings in the Levantine style.
Read the complete Derecho E. de Santonje write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Derecho E. de Santonje is where the day begins. Next is Cueva del Esquilo.
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 comes up about 69 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abrigo del milano.
Bullas is wine country, and the vineyards of Monastrell grapes roll over the hills around the town in the northwest of Murcia, producing robust red wines under their own denomination of origin. The Abrigo del Milano, the kite's shelter, named after the bird of prey that circles over these hills, lies in the countryside between Bullas, Mula and Pliego. It is one of the many rock shelters in Murcia with prehistoric paintings, part of the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean rock art, though access to many shelters is restricted to protect them, so ask locally before trying to visit.
Read the complete Abrigo del milano write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 138 km into the recorded legs you reach Abrigo del milano. Next is back through 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.
back through Cueva del Esquilo, late in the day. Next is Derecho E. de Santonje, 61 km on.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Derecho E. de Santonje write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Derecho E. de Santonje. That is the ride.
Derecho E. de Santonje → Cueva del Esquilo is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cueva del Esquilo → Abrigo del milano is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo del milano → back through Cueva del Esquilo is 86 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cueva del Esquilo → Derecho E. de Santonje is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.