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.
331 km from Nerpio to Nerpio, about 8 h 42 of riding. It goes by way of Diosa madre, Abrigo del Engarbo, Letreros de los mártires and back through Abrigo del Engarbo. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,450 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
A hornacina is a niche, a small hollow in a wall, the kind you find in a church for a statue. The Hornacina de la Pareja, the niche of the couple, is a small shelter near Nerpio, a kilometre and a half from the village, and the name suggests that someone once saw a pair of figures in the paint. You should treat that as a clue to how fragile and ambiguous these images are: a couple to one eye, a stain and a couple of lines to another.
Read the complete Hornacina de la Pareja write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hornacina de la Pareja is where the day begins. Next is Diosa madre.
Some places on a map feel remote; this one actually is. The point named Diosa Madre, mother goddess, lies in the mountains of the Sierra de Segura, in the far southwest of Albacete province, roughly sixteen kilometres from Yeste and not far from the border with Jaén. The mountains themselves are the real experience.
Read the complete Diosa madre write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Diosa madre comes up about 49 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abrigo del Engarbo.
Deep in the Sierra de Segura in the northeast of Jaén province, close to where the Segura river is born, the Engarbo rock shelters hide a few small painted figures under limestone overhangs. They belong to the great serial UNESCO listing of Levantine rock art, prehistoric paintings found along the mountains of eastern Spain, with stylised humans and animals in red ochre that have survived thousands of years of sun, frost and goats. The shelters are modest and fragile, often fenced, and visits usually need to be arranged locally, so treat them as a reason to explore this remote corner rather than a guaranteed sight.
Read the complete Abrigo del Engarbo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 119 km into the recorded legs you reach Abrigo del Engarbo. Next is Letreros de los mártires.
Out in the high north-east of Granada province, Huéscar feels a long way from the Alhambra and the beaches of the Costa Tropical. This is the altiplano, a broad upland of wheat fields, almond trees and pale badlands at around a thousand metres, ringed by mountains, with the great limestone hump of La Sagra rising to the north. The rock shelter called Letreros de los Mártires lies in this country, a dozen or so kilometres from the town.
Read the complete Letreros de los mártires write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Letreros de los mártires, about halfway. Next is back through Abrigo del Engarbo.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo del Engarbo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Abrigo del Engarbo sits at 109 km, about halfway. Next is back through Diosa madre.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Diosa madre write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Diosa madre comes up about 282 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hornacina de la Pareja.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hornacina de la Pareja write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hornacina de la Pareja closes the day.
Hornacina de la Pareja → Diosa madre is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Diosa madre → Abrigo del Engarbo is 70 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo del Engarbo → Letreros de los mártires is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Letreros de los mártires → back through Abrigo del Engarbo is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abrigo del Engarbo → back through Diosa madre is 70 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Diosa madre → Hornacina de la Pareja is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.