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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Villajoyosa it runs 281 km to Villajoyosa; allow about 4 h 51 of riding. It goes by way of Cueva de las Arañas del Carabassi, Palmeral of Elche, Barranc d'Alpadull- Abric I and back through Palmeral of Elche. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Behind the beaches and high-rises of the Costa Blanca, a few kilometres inland from Alicante and El Campello, the land rises quickly into dry limestone hills, scrub and almond terraces. This is the beginning of the Betic ranges, and the area is cut by ravines, barrancos, which carry water only after heavy storms and have carved gorges in the soft rock. Garganta de la Hoz is the name of such a gorge, a narrow cut in the hills, and the I suggests that more than one point on the ride lies along it.
Read the complete Garganta de la Hoz I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Garganta de la Hoz I is where the day begins. Next is Cueva de las Arañas del Carabassi.
The Carabassí is one of the last stretches of wild-ish coast between Alicante and Santa Pola: a line of dunes held together by pine and marram grass, a long beach, and the sea glittering under the flight path of Alicante airport. In the low rocky ground behind it lies a small cave known for painted marks, the Cueva de las Arañas del Carabassí, close to the village of El Altet and a short hop from Santa Pola.
Read the complete Cueva de las Arañas del Carabassi write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cueva de las Arañas del Carabassi comes up about 39 km into the recorded legs. Next is Palmeral of Elche.
Riding into Elche from the dry hills of southern Alicante, the sudden forest of date palms feels like a mistake of geography, as if a piece of North Africa had been set down in Spain. In a sense it was. The palm groves were laid out in their present form during the Islamic period, when Arab settlers brought an irrigation system of channels fed by the Vinalopó river and arranged the orchards in walled plots, with palms on the edges and crops beneath. Tens of thousands of palms remain today in and around the city, the largest palm grove in Europe, and the Palmeral was added to the UNESCO list in 2000.
Read the complete Palmeral of Elche write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 63 km into the recorded legs you reach Palmeral of Elche. Next is Barranc d'Alpadull- Abric I.
The painted shelter of Barranc d'Alpadull sits in the folds of the Serra de Mariola, the limestone massif that rises between Bocairent, Alfafara and Agres in the inland corner where Valencia, Alicante and the old kingdom's hill country all meet. It is one of the many small overhangs in eastern Spain that carry Levantine rock art, the group of sites inscribed together by UNESCO as the Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin. Do not expect a museum. These are faint, reddish figures under a lip of stone, usually fenced, often hard to read unless the light is low and raking, and part of the pleasure is simply knowing that hunters drew here thousands of years before anyone thought of building a road up this valley.
Read the complete Barranc d'Alpadull- Abric I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Barranc d'Alpadull- Abric I, about halfway. Next is back through Palmeral of Elche.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Palmeral of Elche write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Palmeral of Elche sits at 187 km, about halfway. Next is back through Cueva de las Arañas del Carabassi.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cueva de las Arañas del Carabassi write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Cueva de las Arañas del Carabassi comes up about 241 km into the recorded legs. Next is Garganta de la Hoz I.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Garganta de la Hoz I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Garganta de la Hoz I closes the day.
Garganta de la Hoz I → Cueva de las Arañas del Carabassi is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cueva de las Arañas del Carabassi → Palmeral of Elche is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Palmeral of Elche → Barranc d'Alpadull- Abric I is 77 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Barranc d'Alpadull- Abric I → back through Palmeral of Elche is 77 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Palmeral of Elche → back through Cueva de las Arañas del Carabassi is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cueva de las Arañas del Carabassi → Garganta de la Hoz I is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.