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.
A 512 km round trip from Albocàsser - roughly 10 h 50 in the saddle. The stops in between: Abric del mas del moli de la Cova, Castell de Villafamés, Cova de Gargán and Abrigo del Arenal de la fonseca ó Abrigo d. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,350 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
L'Arc means the arch, and it is one of those place names that makes you look up. In the limestone of the Maestrat, weathering has worked on the rock for millions of years, carving ledges, hollows, pinnacles and now and then a natural arch or bridge where a thin wall has been eaten through. The shelter lies about six kilometres from Albocàsser, and carries painting in the Levantine tradition, protected by UNESCO as part of the rock art of the Mediterranean basin in Spain. The ride links it with the Arenal de la Fonseca, a sandy ledge where the rock crumbles to grit.
Read the complete L'Arc write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
L'Arc is where the day begins. Next is Abric del mas del moli de la Cova.
The Maestrat is the old Valencian highland, a country of bare limestone, stone-walled fields and farmhouses called masos, and the name of this shelter refers to one of them: the mas of the mill at the cave. It is a very long way from the beaches that most people associate with Castellón. The shelter lies a few kilometres from Villafranca del Cid, known in Valencian as Vilafranca, which sits at roughly a thousand metres on a plateau where the winters are cold and the summers are mercifully fresh.
Read the complete Abric del mas del moli de la Cova write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abric del mas del moli de la Cova comes up about 30 km into the recorded legs. Next is Castell de Villafamés.
Villafamés announces itself from a long way off: a village of white and ochre houses stacked up a hill of reddish rock, with the remains of a castle crowning the top. It stands a little inland from the coast of Castellón, roughly between Borriol, Cabanes and the beach town of Benicàssim, close enough to the sea that you can smell salt on a westerly breeze turning, yet already in that rumpled hill country that leads up into the Maestrat.
Read the complete Castell de Villafamés write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 78 km into the recorded legs you reach Castell de Villafamés. Next is Cova de Gargán.
High in the interior of Castellón, where the coastal orange groves are long forgotten and the land climbs toward the Penyagolosa massif, the shelter known as Cova de Gargán sits in a country of limestone ledges, holm oak and dry-stone terraces. Vistabella del Maestrazgo is the nearest village, a handful of kilometres away on its high plateau, with Villahermosa del Río down in its valley to the other side and Lucena del Cid a little further south. It is quiet up here in a way that the coast never is.
Read the complete Cova de Gargán write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cova de Gargán, about halfway. Next is Abrigo del Arenal de la fonseca ó Abrigo d.
The Guadalope river cuts a deep canyon through the limestone of the Maestrazgo in eastern Teruel, and the Abrigo del Arenal de la Fonseca lies in this wild country near the hamlet of Ladruñán, between the villages of Castellote and Cantavieja. It is one of the important rock-art shelters of Aragon, part of the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean prehistoric art, with Levantine paintings of animals and human figures in red pigment on the rock. The setting is spectacular: a narrow gorge with towering cliffs, the river flowing below, and pine and holm oak clinging to the slopes. Access involves a walk, and the paintings are protected by a fence.
Read the complete Abrigo del Arenal de la fonseca ó Abrigo d write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo del Arenal de la fonseca ó Abrigo d sits at 177 km, about halfway. Next is back through Cova de Gargán.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cova de Gargán write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Cova de Gargán comes up about 390 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Castell de Villafamés.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Castell de Villafamés write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 433 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Castell de Villafamés. Next is back through Abric del mas del moli de la Cova.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abric del mas del moli de la Cova write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Abric del mas del moli de la Cova, late in the day. Next is L'Arc.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete L'Arc write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 512 km.
L'Arc → Abric del mas del moli de la Cova is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abric del mas del moli de la Cova → Castell de Villafamés is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Castell de Villafamés → Cova de Gargán is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cova de Gargán → Abrigo del Arenal de la fonseca ó Abrigo d is 134 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Abrigo del Arenal de la fonseca ó Abrigo d → back through Cova de Gargán is 134 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Cova de Gargán → back through Castell de Villafamés is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Castell de Villafamés → back through Abric del mas del moli de la Cova is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abric del mas del moli de la Cova → L'Arc is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.