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.
403 km from Benassal to Benassal, about 8 h 38 of riding. The stops in between: Abric del Barranc d'en Cabrera, Galeria del Roure, Las Rozas I and Abric del mas de Barberà. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,250 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Culla stands on a hilltop in the interior of Castellón, a medieval village of stone houses and narrow lanes wrapped around the remains of a castle. In the thirteenth century, after the Christian conquest, the area was granted to the Knights Templar, and later to the Order of Montesa, which explains the old walls and the sense of a place built for defence. Below the village, among the ravines and terraces, the rock shelter of Els Covarxos holds prehistoric paintings, part of the UNESCO site of Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula. Like many such shelters, it is protected and not easy to find on your own; enquire locally before setting off on foot.
Read the complete Els Covarxos write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Els Covarxos is where the day begins. Next is Abric del Barranc d'en Cabrera.
The Maestrat is a quiet corner of Castellón, a country of dry-stone walls, almond groves and villages built on knolls, and the ravines that cut through it hide shelters painted with scenes from the Mesolithic and Neolithic. The Abric del Barranc d'en Cabrera belongs to the Levantine rock art of the Mediterranean Basin, a tradition inscribed by UNESCO in 1998, and it lies in the hills above Albocàsser, near the little towns of Catí and Les Coves de Vinromà. The best-known cluster, the Valltorta gorge, lies not far away, with a museum at Tírig that explains the art and gives access to some sites.
Read the complete Abric del Barranc d'en Cabrera write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abric del Barranc d'en Cabrera comes up about 43 km into the recorded legs. Next is Galeria del Roure.
Morella rises from the plateau of the Ports like something from a dream: a walled town wrapped around a rocky hill, crowned by a castle, with the Gothic basilica of Santa María la Mayor in the middle, and two kilometres of medieval walls with towers and gates running around the base. It is one of the most impressive historic towns in Spain, and the Galeria del Roure, a rock shelter about four kilometres away, is part of the cluster of prehistoric sites around Morella, including Morella la Vella, one of the important rock-art sites of the Valencian region, all part of the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean rock art. The shelters are small and some are protected, so ask at the tourist office in town about visits.
Read the complete Galeria del Roure write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 92 km into the recorded legs you reach Galeria del Roure. Next is Las Rozas I.
The upper valley of the Guadalope in Teruel is a place where limestone has been folded, cut and carved into an extraordinary array of shapes: cliffs, gorges, natural arches and pinnacles, with the river winding between them in places of startling green. Near Castellote, the painted shelter labelled Las Rozas I is one of the sites of Levantine rock art listed by UNESCO. Its figures are faint and fragile, but they speak of people who hunted deer and ibex in these same valleys thousands of years ago.
Read the complete Las Rozas I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Las Rozas I, about halfway. Next is Abric del mas de Barberà.
Alcañiz is the capital of the Bajo Aragón, a region of olive groves, cereal fields and dry hills crossed by the Guadalope river in the south-east of Aragón. The town is crowned by a castle built for the Order of Calatrava, now a parador, and its main square, with a Gothic loggia and the town hall, is one of the finest in the region. The shelter of the Mas de Barberà lies in the hills just outside town, toward Castelserás and Calanda.
Read the complete Abric del mas de Barberà write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abric del mas de Barberà sits at 159 km, about halfway. Next is back through Las Rozas I.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Las Rozas I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Las Rozas I comes up about 254 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Galeria del Roure.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Galeria del Roure write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 313 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Galeria del Roure. Next is back through Abric del Barranc d'en Cabrera.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abric del Barranc d'en Cabrera write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Abric del Barranc d'en Cabrera, late in the day. Next is Els Covarxos.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Els Covarxos write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 403 km.
Els Covarxos → Abric del Barranc d'en Cabrera is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abric del Barranc d'en Cabrera → Galeria del Roure is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Galeria del Roure → Las Rozas I is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Las Rozas I → Abric del mas de Barberà is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abric del mas de Barberà → back through Las Rozas I is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Las Rozas I → back through Galeria del Roure is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Galeria del Roure → back through Abric del Barranc d'en Cabrera is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abric del Barranc d'en Cabrera → Els Covarxos is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.