Iglesia parroquial de Santa Tecla and Abric del mas de Barberà
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
537 km
Riding-time estimate
8 h 37
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
From Cervera de la Cañada it runs 537 km to Cervera de la Cañada; allow about 8 h 37 of riding. The stops in between: Iglesia de Santa María, Abrigo de los Arqueros Negros, Abrigo de los Trepadores and Abric del mas de Barberà. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,050 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. Iglesia parroquial de Santa Tecla
Cervera de la Cañada is a village of a few hundred people in the hills south of the Jalón valley, in the province of Zaragoza, with a church of Santa Tecla whose brick apse is one of the finest examples of Mudéjar work in Aragon. The label puts you right in the village, and the town of Calatayud lies twelve kilometres away to the north-east, on the main road between Madrid and Zaragoza.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Iglesia parroquial de Santa Tecla is where the day begins. Next is Iglesia de Santa María.
2. Iglesia de Santa María
Somewhere in the folds of the Sierra de Algairén, south-west of Zaragoza, a bell tower pokes up above a cluster of ochre roofs, and that is your Iglesia de Santa María. Half the villages of Aragon have a church of that name, and this one does the job the others do: it marks the middle of a small place where the shop, the bar and the plaza all orbit the same square of stone. The nearest neighbours on the map are Cosuenda, Almonacid de la Sierra and Alpartir, each a few hundred souls, each about nine kilometres off.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Iglesia de Santa María comes up about 46 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abrigo de los Arqueros Negros.
3. Abrigo de los Arqueros Negros
The prehistoric painters of eastern Spain had a thing for archers. Across hundreds of rock shelters from Catalonia to Andalusia, they painted small, dynamic human figures drawing bows, chasing deer and goats, sometimes fighting each other, and these scenes of the so-called Levantine style are part of the UNESCO listing of rock art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula. Shelters with names like the Abrigo de los Arqueros Negros, the shelter of the black archers, are scattered through the limestone hills of the province of Teruel and its neighbours in Aragon, often in remote ravines and protected by grilles.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 84 km into the recorded legs you reach Abrigo de los Arqueros Negros. Next is Abrigo de los Trepadores.
4. Abrigo de los Trepadores
The Río Martín runs through the dry hills of Teruel province in northern Spain, and the villages along its banks, Alacón, Oliete and Muniesa among them, are tiny places that seem to belong to a calmer century. The Abrigo de los Trepadores is one of the rock shelters of the area, part of a cultural park that protects the paintings found in the cliffs and gorges of the valley. Many belong to the Levantine tradition, small red figures of hunters and animals, and others are schematic, simple signs and stick-like human forms, painted by later peoples. The paintings can be hard to find without a guide, and access is regulated, so plan ahead.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abrigo de los Trepadores, about halfway. Next is Abric del mas de Barberà.
5. Abric del mas de Barberà
Alcañiz is the capital of the Bajo Aragón, a region of olive groves, cereal fields and dry hills crossed by the Guadalope river in the south-east of Aragón. The town is crowned by a castle built for the Order of Calatrava, now a parador, and its main square, with a Gothic loggia and the town hall, is one of the finest in the region. The shelter of the Mas de Barberà lies in the hills just outside town, toward Castelserás and Calanda.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 537 km.
Leg by leg
Iglesia parroquial de Santa Tecla to Iglesia de Santa María
Iglesia parroquial de Santa Tecla → Iglesia de Santa María is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Iglesia de Santa María to Abrigo de los Arqueros Negros
Iglesia de Santa María → Abrigo de los Arqueros Negros is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo de los Arqueros Negros to Abrigo de los Trepadores
Abrigo de los Arqueros Negros → Abrigo de los Trepadores is 107 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo de los Trepadores to Abric del mas de Barberà
Abrigo de los Trepadores → Abric del mas de Barberà is 72 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abric del mas de Barberà to back through Abrigo de los Trepadores
Abric del mas de Barberà → back through Abrigo de los Trepadores is 78 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abrigo de los Trepadores to back through Abrigo de los Arqueros Negros
back through Abrigo de los Trepadores → back through Abrigo de los Arqueros Negros is 113 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abrigo de los Arqueros Negros to back through Iglesia de Santa María
back through Abrigo de los Arqueros Negros → back through Iglesia de Santa María is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Iglesia de Santa María to Iglesia parroquial de Santa Tecla
back through Iglesia de Santa María → Iglesia parroquial de Santa Tecla is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.