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.
From Alacón it runs 354 km to Alacón; allow about 7 h 47 of riding. The stops in between: Hocino de Chornas, friso Abierto del Pudial, Coveta de la Cornisa and back through friso Abierto del Pudial. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,250 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. Frontón de !as Cápridos
Look at a map of the Bajo Aragón and you will find a great deal of white space, a country of low ridges, ravines and little villages that have lost most of their inhabitants in a century. Alacón has four hundred people and Oliete not many more, and the Frontón de las Cápridos, a painted rock shelter named for the wild goats, or caprids, that appear among its figures, lies about three and a half kilometres from the former. The paintings are in the Levantine tradition, protected by UNESCO together with the rest of the Mediterranean rock art of the Iberian Peninsula, and they sit within a cultural park that strings several sites together along the Río Martín.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Frontón de !as Cápridos is where the day begins. Next is Hocino de Chornas.
2. Hocino de Chornas
The Martín river cuts a deep, winding gorge through the limestone hills of Teruel, and its walls are full of shelters where prehistoric people painted animals, hunters and abstract symbols. The Hocino de Chornas, near Estercuel and Montalbán, is one of these sites, a narrow gorge with rock art on its walls, part of the Río Martín Cultural Park, which protects dozens of painted shelters along the river between Montalbán, Obón, Alacón and Ariño. The sites are part of the Mediterranean rock art group listed by UNESCO, and the cultural park has interpretation centres and guided visits that make the art more accessible than at many other sites.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hocino de Chornas comes up about 35 km into the recorded legs. Next is friso Abierto del Pudial.
3. friso Abierto del Pudial
Deep in the Maestrazgo of Teruel, where the Guadalope river carves its way between limestone walls, the rock shelters around Castellote and Molinos hold painted figures left by prehistoric communities. The Friso Abierto del Pudial is one of them, an open frieze on a sheltered rock face, part of the extraordinary chain of Levantine art sites listed by UNESCO. The figures are faint, and visiting typically means a walk on rough ground, but the setting alone is worth the effort.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 97 km into the recorded legs you reach friso Abierto del Pudial. Next is Coveta de la Cornisa.
4. Coveta de la Cornisa
Morella is one of the most dramatic towns in Spain: a walled medieval city wrapped around a conical hill, with a castle on the summit and its walls running unbroken around the base. It stands in the mountains of the Ports in the north of Castellón province, at around a thousand metres, and its silhouette, seen from the roads that climb toward it, is unforgettable. The Coveta de la Cornisa, the little cave of the ledge, lies in the hills about four kilometres away.