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.
529 km from Moratalla to Moratalla, about 12 h 10 of riding. On the way it passes Abrigo de la Rambla de Pedro Izquierdo, Río frío, Abrigo del.melgar and Úbeda. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,450 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
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.
Read the complete Hondares write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hondares is where the day begins. Next is Abrigo de la Rambla de Pedro Izquierdo.
A rambla is a dry riverbed that only runs after storms, and the Rambla de Pedro Izquierdo is one of many that cut into the limestone hills around Nerpio, in the remote south-western corner of Albacete. In a rock shelter above it, prehistoric people left paintings in the Levantine style, small, lively figures of people and animals, and the site is one of the many shelters around Nerpio that belong to the UNESCO-listed Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula. Visits are normally arranged through the village, and a guide will know which shelters are accessible and when the light is right for seeing the faded pigment.
Read the complete Abrigo de la Rambla de Pedro Izquierdo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo de la Rambla de Pedro Izquierdo comes up about 45 km into the recorded legs. Next is Río frío.
Cold water is a rare luxury in southern Spain, and a stream called Río Frío promises exactly that. It is a land of pine forests, limestone crags, deep river gorges and tiny villages, and the painted rock shelters scattered through these hills are part of the UNESCO listing of rock art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula.
Read the complete Río frío write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 99 km into the recorded legs you reach Río frío. Next is Abrigo del.melgar, 47 km on.
Quesada is a white town at the foot of the Sierra de Cazorla, in the province of Jaén, surrounded by an ocean of olive trees. The groves stretch to the horizon in every direction, a landscape that makes Jaén the world's largest producer of olive oil. Behind the town, the mountains rise steeply, with pine forest and limestone cliffs, and the Guadalquivir river has its source not far away. The Abrigo del Melgar lies in the hills just outside the town.
Read the complete Abrigo del.melgar write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo del.melgar, about halfway. Next is Úbeda.
In the middle of an ocean of olive trees, Úbeda rises on a ridge like a Renaissance city that took a wrong turn on its way to Florence. This town in the province of Jaén, along with its neighbour Baeza, was listed by UNESCO in 2003 for its sixteenth-century architecture, much of it the work of Andrés de Vandelvira, who built palaces, churches and chapels for wealthy noble families and royal officials. The Plaza Vázquez de Molina is the showpiece, a harmonious square lined with palaces and the extraordinary Sacra Capilla del Salvador, a funerary chapel built for Francisco de los Cobos, secretary to Emperor Charles V.
Read the complete Úbeda write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Úbeda sits at 187 km, about halfway. Next is back through Abrigo del.melgar, 46 km on.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo del.melgar write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Abrigo del.melgar comes up about 313 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Río frío.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Río frío write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 425 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Río frío. Next is back through Abrigo de la Rambla de Pedro Izquierdo.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo de la Rambla de Pedro Izquierdo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Abrigo de la Rambla de Pedro Izquierdo, late in the day. Next is Hondares.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hondares write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 529 km.
Hondares → Abrigo de la Rambla de Pedro Izquierdo is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo de la Rambla de Pedro Izquierdo → Río frío is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Río frío → Abrigo del.melgar is 119 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Abrigo del.melgar → Úbeda is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Úbeda → back through Abrigo del.melgar is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abrigo del.melgar → back through Río frío is 112 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Río frío → back through Abrigo de la Rambla de Pedro Izquierdo is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abrigo de la Rambla de Pedro Izquierdo → Hondares is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.