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 71 km round trip from María - roughly 1 h 59 in the saddle. It goes by way of Hoyos II, Cueva del Tio Labrador and back through Hoyos II. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,200 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
High in the north of Almería province, far from the beaches most people associate with the name, the Sierra de María rises in grey limestone above a plateau of almond orchards and cereal fields. Gabar is a point in the hills between the villages of María and Vélez-Blanco, part of a cluster of rock-art shelters in the Los Vélez district. This corner of Spain is famous for one painted figure in particular: the Indalo, a little stick man holding an arc over his head, found in the Cueva de los Letreros just outside Vélez-Blanco. It has become the emblem of the whole province, painted on doors and sold as a lucky charm, which is a remarkable career for a prehistoric doodle.
Read the complete Gabar write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Gabar is where the day begins. Next is Hoyos II.
Above the whitewashed roofs of Vélez-Blanco stands one of the most unexpected castles in Spain. It was built in the early sixteenth century for the first Marquis of Los Vélez, Pedro Fajardo, on a rocky spur, with a severe Gothic exterior and a Renaissance courtyard of astonishing delicacy inside. In the early twentieth century the owners sold the marble courtyard, which was taken down stone by stone and shipped abroad, and it now stands, reassembled, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. A later restoration left the castle itself with plain rooms, but it remains a splendid sight from the road.
Read the complete Hoyos II write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hoyos II comes up about 20 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cueva del Tio Labrador.
Vélez-Rubio is a larger and busier place than its neighbour Vélez-Blanco, with seven thousand people, a lively main street, and a church that is a surprise in a town this size. The Church of the Encarnación, begun in the eighteenth century, has twin towers and a massive Baroque façade, usually described as the largest Baroque church in Almería, and its bulk dominates the roofs. It is a good place to start before riding up toward the mountains, because the fuel stations here are the nearest reliable ones for a long way.
Read the complete Cueva del Tio Labrador write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 36 km into the recorded legs you reach Cueva del Tio Labrador. Next is back through Hoyos II.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hoyos II write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Hoyos II, late in the day. Next is Gabar.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Gabar write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Gabar. That is the ride.
Gabar → Hoyos II is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hoyos II → Cueva del Tio Labrador is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cueva del Tío Labrador → back through Hoyos II is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hoyos II → Gabar is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.