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.
From María it runs 434 km to María; allow about 8 h 08 of riding. The stops in between: Abrigo de la fuente, Andragulla I, Cueva del Gitano and Solana del molinico. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,400 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
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.
Read the complete Izquierda E. de Santonje write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Izquierda E. de Santonje is where the day begins. Next is Abrigo de la fuente.
Nerpio is about as remote as it gets in southern Spain: a village in the far south-west corner of Albacete province, deep in the Sierra del Segura, close to the borders of Andalucía and Murcia. It sits in the valley of the Taibilla river, surrounded by mountains, with terraced fields, walnut trees and pine forests on the slopes. The Abrigo de la Fuente, the shelter of the spring, lies in the hills about eleven kilometres from the village.
Read the complete Abrigo de la fuente write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo de la fuente comes up about 50 km into the recorded legs. Next is Andragulla I.
In the far north-west corner of the Region of Murcia, where the land climbs towards the mountains of Albacete and Jaén, lies Moratalla, a town of whitewashed houses piled up a hillside beneath a castle tower. Its countryside is surprisingly wild for Murcia: pine forests, rivers, gorges and limestone ridges, some of the greenest land in a famously dry region. The rock shelter of Andragulla is one of many painted overhangs scattered through these hills, part of the Levantine rock art sites inscribed together by UNESCO. Many are protected behind fences and need a guide; the tourist office in Moratalla can advise.
Read the complete Andragulla I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 111 km into the recorded legs you reach Andragulla I. Next is Cueva del Gitano.
Some places are remote on the map and remote in the gut, and the country around the Cueva del Gitano is both. It lies in the Sierra de Segura on the southern fringe of Albacete province, in the municipality of Nerpio, where the mountains of Albacete, Murcia, Jaén and Granada all run into one another. This is one of the richest areas for prehistoric rock art in Spain, with dozens of painted shelters along the valley of the Taibilla river and its side ravines, and the Cueva del Gitano is one of the smaller sites in that dense cluster. The art is faint, the walk can be rough, and the setting does most of the talking.
Read the complete Cueva del Gitano write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cueva del Gitano, about halfway. Next is Solana del molinico.
Socovos is the sort of village you only find by getting a little lost: a cluster of white houses below a ruined castle in the far southeast of Albacete province, where the plains of La Mancha give way to the tangled ridges of the Sierra de Segura. Solana del Molinico, close by, is one of the rock-art shelters in this corner of Spain that belong to the UNESCO listing for Levantine rock art. The word solana means a sun-facing slope, and many of these painted overhangs face south, catching the warmth on winter days just as they must have done when hunters and gatherers sheltered here.
Read the complete Solana del molinico write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Solana del molinico sits at 160 km, about halfway. Next is back through Cueva del Gitano.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cueva del Gitano write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Cueva del Gitano comes up about 266 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Andragulla I.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Andragulla I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 316 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Andragulla I. Next is back through Abrigo de la fuente.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo de la fuente write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Abrigo de la fuente, late in the day. Next is Izquierda E. de Santonje, 40 km on.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Izquierda E. de Santonje write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 434 km.
Izquierda E. de Santonje → Abrigo de la fuente is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo de la fuente → Andragulla I is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Andragulla I → Cueva del Gitano is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cueva del Gitano → Solana del molinico is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Solana del molinico → back through Cueva del Gitano is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cueva del Gitano → back through Andragulla I is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Andragulla I → back through Abrigo de la fuente is 68 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abrigo de la fuente → Izquierda E. de Santonje is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.