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.
311 km from Borriol to Borriol, about 7 h 19 of riding. The stops in between: Cova de Gargán, Racó de Nando, Abric mas de la Roca and back through Racó de Nando. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,250 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Just behind Castelló de la Plana, where the coastal plain meets the first hills, the ravine of La Joquera cuts into the limestone near the village of Borriol. Its shelters hold prehistoric paintings, part of the UNESCO-listed rock art of the Mediterranean basin, and the area has been studied for its archaeology for decades. It is unusual to find such ancient art so close to a large modern city, and the contrast between the busy plain below, with its orange groves, factories and motorways, and the quiet hills above is striking.
Read the complete La Joquera write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
La Joquera is where the day begins. 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 comes up about 55 km into the recorded legs. Next is Racó de Nando.
Racó means corner in Valencian, and this really is a corner: a fold in the limestone hills between Benassal, Culla and Vilafranca, in the interior of Castellón where the coast's crowds feel a continent away. The rock shelter here is one of the many small sites of Levantine prehistoric painting that together make up a UNESCO World Heritage listing, and like most of them it is modest, fenced and best seen with a local guide. What lingers is less the painting than the idea of hunters choosing this exact overhang, with water close by and a view down the valley, and leaving their mark on it.
Read the complete Racó de Nando write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 108 km into the recorded legs you reach Racó de Nando. Next is Abric mas de la Roca.
Northern Castellón is a hard, empty, beautiful part of Valencian Spain, a country of limestone ridges and terraced slopes some thirty kilometres back from the Mediterranean, and the Abric Mas de la Roca belongs to it, about six kilometres from the village of Xert, whose name is spelled Chert in Catalan and Valencian. Xert has fewer than a thousand people, Canet lo Roig and Catí are similar, and everything here is small and old.
Read the complete Abric mas de la Roca write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abric mas de la Roca, about halfway. Next is back through Racó de Nando.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Racó de Nando write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Racó de Nando sits at 143 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 255 km into the recorded legs. Next is La Joquera.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete La Joquera write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
La Joquera closes the day.
La Joquera → Cova de Gargán is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cova de Gargán → Racó de Nando is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Racó de Nando → Abric mas de la Roca is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abric mas de la Roca → back through Racó de Nando is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Racó de Nando → back through Cova de Gargán is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cova de Gargán → La Joquera is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.