The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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 330 km round trip from Moratalla - roughly 7 h 05 in the saddle. It goes by way of L. Tello I. Cama del Pastor, Cueva de la Plata and back through L. Tello I. Cama del Pastor. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,200 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. Hondares
Hondares is a word on a map that barely registers, and that is exactly why people come. It lies in the high, dry country where the province of Murcia gives way to Albacete, between the Sierra de Segura foothills and the Segura river, which has carved a long valley here before it spills into the Fuensanta reservoir. Moratalla, the nearest real town, is about twelve kilometres away, and in this part of Spain that counts as close.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hondares is where the day begins. Next is L. Tello I. Cama del Pastor, 61 km on.
2. L. Tello I. Cama del Pastor
In the mountains of northern Almería, near the village of Vélez-Blanco, the Cueva de los Letreros holds a small painted figure that has become the symbol of the province: the Indalo, a human figure holding an arc over its head, which locals paint on houses as a good luck charm. The rock shelters around Vélez-Blanco, including the one known as Tello I or Cama del Pastor, the shepherd's bed, are part of the Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin listing, with paintings ranging from Levantine scenes to schematic signs. The landscape is dry and rugged, with the limestone mass of the Sierra de María rising above.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
L. Tello I. Cama del Pastor comes up 61 km in. Next is Cueva de la Plata.
3. Cueva de la Plata
Aledo is a tiny village on a rocky spur in the hills of Murcia, a place that punches well above its weight in history. In the eleventh century, it was a fortress on the frontier between Christian Castile and the Muslim taifa kingdoms, and the siege of Aledo in 1088 was a major episode in the struggle for the peninsula. A tower still stands above the village. The Cueva de la Plata, the silver cave, lies in the hills nearby, between Aledo, Totana and Alhama de Murcia.