CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From María it runs 413 km to María; allow about 7 h 47 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. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
In the mountains of northern Almería, near the village of Vélez-Blanco, the Cueva de los Letreros holds a small painted figure that has become the symbol of the province: the Indalo, a human figure holding an arc over its head, which locals paint on houses as a good luck charm. The rock shelters around Vélez-Blanco, including the one known as Tello I or Cama del Pastor, the shepherd's bed, are part of the Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin listing, with paintings ranging from Levantine scenes to schematic signs. The landscape is dry and rugged, with the limestone mass of the Sierra de María rising above.
Read the complete L. Tello I. Cama del Pastor write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
L. Tello I. Cama del Pastor 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 38 km in. 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.
76 km in 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 152 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 190 km in. 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.
228 km in 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 L. Tello I. Cama del Pastor, 38 km on.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete L. Tello I. Cama del Pastor write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 413 km.
L. Tello I. Cama del Pastor → Abrigo de la fuente is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo de la fuente → Andragulla I is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Andragulla I → Cueva del Gitano is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cueva del Gitano → Solana del molinico is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Solana del molinico → back through Cueva del Gitano is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cueva del Gitano → back through Andragulla I is 38 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 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abrigo de la fuente → L. Tello I. Cama del Pastor is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.