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 322 km round trip from Moratalla - roughly 8 h 09 in the saddle. The stops in between: Prado del Tornero I, Diosa madre, Abrigo del Engarbo and back through Diosa madre. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,450 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Fuensanta II is the sort of name only an archaeologist could love, a numbered rock shelter in the hills of northwest Murcia where prehistoric painters left a handful of figures on the stone. It is one of the hundreds of sites grouped under UNESCO's listing of rock art in the Mediterranean Basin of the Iberian Peninsula, and the Moratalla area is unusually rich in them. The paintings are small, faint to the untrained eye and protected, so the real value of coming is to understand the landscape that drew people here thousands of years ago: springs, shelter and game in rough, broken country.
Read the complete Fuensanta II write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fuensanta II is where the day begins. Next is Prado del Tornero I.
Nerpio is the place the road seems to forget. It lies in the far south-west of Albacete province, tucked against the Sierra de Segura and the Murcian border, in a high valley where the headwaters of the Taibilla and other streams gather. It has fewer than two thousand residents and one of the densest clusters of prehistoric rock paintings in Spain, dozens of shelters scattered through the surrounding crags. These are part of the Levantine and schematic traditions, painted in red and black, and covered by the same World Heritage listing as the painted caves of the Levante coast.
Read the complete Prado del Tornero I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Prado del Tornero I comes up about 30 km into the recorded legs. Next is Diosa madre.
Some places on a map feel remote; this one actually is. The point named Diosa Madre, mother goddess, lies in the mountains of the Sierra de Segura, in the far southwest of Albacete province, roughly sixteen kilometres from Yeste and not far from the border with Jaén. The mountains themselves are the real experience.
Read the complete Diosa madre write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 79 km into the recorded legs you reach Diosa madre. Next is Abrigo del Engarbo.
Deep in the Sierra de Segura in the northeast of Jaén province, close to where the Segura river is born, the Engarbo rock shelters hide a few small painted figures under limestone overhangs. They belong to the great serial UNESCO listing of Levantine rock art, prehistoric paintings found along the mountains of eastern Spain, with stylised humans and animals in red ochre that have survived thousands of years of sun, frost and goats. The shelters are modest and fragile, often fenced, and visits usually need to be arranged locally, so treat them as a reason to explore this remote corner rather than a guaranteed sight.
Read the complete Abrigo del Engarbo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo del Engarbo, about halfway. Next is back through Diosa madre.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Diosa madre write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Diosa madre sits at 107 km, about halfway. Next is back through Prado del Tornero I.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Prado del Tornero I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Prado del Tornero I comes up about 292 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fuensanta II.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fuensanta II write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fuensanta II closes the day.
Fuensanta II → Prado del Tornero I is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Prado del Tornero I → Diosa madre is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Diosa madre → Abrigo del Engarbo is 70 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo del Engarbo → back through Diosa madre is 94 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Diosa madre → back through Prado del Tornero I is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Prado del Tornero I → Fuensanta II is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.