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.
71 km from Velez Rubio to Velez Rubio, about 1 h 57 of riding. It goes by way of Izquierda E. de Santonje, Lázar and back through Izquierda E. de Santonje. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,250 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Inferior Letreros
The Cueva de los Letreros is what most people mean when they say Vélez-Blanco, and the rock shelter at Inferior Letreros is part of the same story. Famous images in the main cave include a little figure with raised arms and a bow-like shape that locals have adopted as the Indalo, now the good-luck symbol of the whole province of Almería, painted on walls and sold on keyrings from the beaches to the mountains. The paintings belong to the Levantine tradition that UNESCO lists as the Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Inferior Letreros is where the day begins. Next is Izquierda E. de Santonje, 17 km on.
2. Izquierda E. de Santonje
The Indalo is everywhere in Almería: a little stick figure holding an arc over its head, painted on houses, sold as a souvenir and used as the symbol of the province. It comes from a rock shelter near Vélez-Blanco, the Cueva de los Letreros, where it was painted in prehistoric times, and the area around the village is rich in rock art, part of the World Heritage rock art of the Mediterranean. The shelters around Santonje, near the villages of María and Vélez-Blanco, are among them.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Izquierda E. de Santonje comes up about 20 km into the recorded legs. Next is Lázar.
3. Lázar
The Vélez comarca in northern Almería sits high and dry, a land of almond trees, steppe and pale limestone ranges that feels more like the Castilian interior than the beach resorts of the south coast. Lázar lies in this country, near the villages of María and Vélez-Blanco, within the Sierra María-Los Vélez natural park. The area is known for some of the most important prehistoric art in Andalusia, and the best-known symbol is the Indalo, a little stick figure holding an arc above its head, taken from a painting in the cave of Los Letreros near Vélez-Blanco and adopted as the emblem of the whole province.