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.
540 km from Morella to Morella, about 9 h 02 of riding. It goes by way of Racó d'en Gil, Barranco de Gibert II, Castell de Villafamés and Peñón de Santo Espíritu. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,400 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
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.
Galeria del Roure is where the day begins. Next is Racó d'en Gil.
There is a small triangle of country in the Alt Maestrat, between Benassal, Catí and Albocàsser, where the hills fold into narrow ravines and the stone walls of old terraces climb every slope. Racó d'en Gil, a name meaning something like Gil's corner, lies in this landscape, and it sits within easy reach of the Valltorta gorge, the place that put Levantine rock art on the map.
Read the complete Racó d'en Gil write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Racó d'en Gil comes up about 46 km into the recorded legs. Next is Barranco de Gibert II.
Up on the roof of the Maestrazgo, where Teruel and Castellón meet, the land rises above fourteen hundred metres into a bleak, beautiful plateau of pasture, pine and limestone. Mosqueruela, on the Aragonese side, is one of the highest villages in the area, and Vilafranca, on the Valencian side, sits in a valley below. The Barranco de Gibert cuts into the hills between them, close also to La Iglesuela del Cid, and its second shelter holds prehistoric paintings.
Read the complete Barranco de Gibert II write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 94 km into the recorded legs you reach Barranco de Gibert II. Next is Castell de Villafamés.
Villafamés announces itself from a long way off: a village of white and ochre houses stacked up a hill of reddish rock, with the remains of a castle crowning the top. It stands a little inland from the coast of Castellón, roughly between Borriol, Cabanes and the beach town of Benicàssim, close enough to the sea that you can smell salt on a westerly breeze turning, yet already in that rumpled hill country that leads up into the Maestrat.
Read the complete Castell de Villafamés write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Castell de Villafamés, about halfway. Next is Peñón de Santo Espíritu.
Behind the orange groves of the Camp de Morvedre, a few kilometres inland from Sagunto, the land rises into the Sierra Calderona, a low range of pine woods, scrub and red sandstone that separates the coastal plain from the dry interior. The Peñón de Santo Espíritu is a rocky outcrop in these hills above the village of Gilet, and it carries prehistoric rock art in the Levantine tradition, the style of painted hunters, animals and human figures found in shelters along the Mediterranean side of Spain and listed by UNESCO as the Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula. The paintings are fragile and often protected, so do not expect to wander up and touch anything.
Read the complete Peñón de Santo Espíritu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Peñón de Santo Espíritu sits at 199 km, about halfway. Next is back through Castell de Villafamés.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Castell de Villafamés write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Castell de Villafamés comes up about 348 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Barranco de Gibert II.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Barranco de Gibert II write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 427 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Barranco de Gibert II. Next is back through Racó d'en Gil.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Racó d'en Gil write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Racó d'en Gil, late in the day. Next is 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.
The route ends here after 540 km.
Galeria del Roure → Racó d'en Gil is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Racó d'en Gil → Barranco de Gibert II is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Barranco de Gibert II → Castell de Villafamés is 98 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Castell de Villafamés → Peñón de Santo Espíritu is 76 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Peñón de Santo Espíritu → back through Castell de Villafamés is 80 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Castell de Villafamés → back through Barranco de Gibert II is 79 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Barranco de Gibert II → back through Racó d'en Gil is 68 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Racó d'en Gil → Galeria del Roure is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.