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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
260 km from María to María, about 4 h 30 of riding. It goes by way of Abrigo de los Gavilanes, Yedra and back through Abrigo de los Gavilanes. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,200 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 los Gavilanes.
Gavilanes means sparrowhawks, and the name fits a shelter high on a limestone face above the dry country where Murcia meets Almería. The Abrigo de los Gavilanes lies in the hills west of Lorca, in an area scattered with painted shelters such as the Collado de la Cruz and Los Grajos, the jackdaws, and it is part of the World Heritage Site of Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula. The figures are small, red and schematic, painted by communities who farmed and herded here thousands of years ago.
Read the complete Abrigo de los Gavilanes write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo de los Gavilanes comes up about 60 km into the recorded legs. Next is Yedra.
In the souvenir shops of Almería there is a little stick figure with outstretched arms and a rainbow arching over his head, and it comes from here. This is the Indalo, a prehistoric painting found in the Cueva de los Letreros near Vélez-Blanco, and it has become the emblem of the whole province, painted on houses and doors and carved on bracelets. Nobody knows quite what it meant, though some say it was a charm against storms. Yedra is a nearby shelter, a short drive from the village, and belongs to the same group of rock art sites that UNESCO lists as part of the Mediterranean Basin tradition.
Read the complete Yedra write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 130 km into the recorded legs you reach Yedra. Next is back through Abrigo de los Gavilanes.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo de los Gavilanes write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Abrigo de los Gavilanes, late in the day. Next is L. Tello I. Cama del Pastor, 63 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.
Back at L. Tello I. Cama del Pastor. That is the ride.
L. Tello I. Cama del Pastor → Abrigo de los Gavilanes is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo de los Gavilanes → Yedra is 70 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Yedra → back through Abrigo de los Gavilanes is 70 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abrigo de los Gavilanes → L. Tello I. Cama del Pastor is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.