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.
454 km from Villafranca del Cid to Villafranca del Cid, about 10 h 27 of riding. It goes by way of Cingle de l'Ermità -Abric V, Galeria del Roure, Las Rozas I and Abric del mas de Barberà. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,300 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
The inland hills of Castellón are some of the emptiest in eastern Spain. Behind the orange groves and resorts of the coast the land rises into the Maestrat, a high, stony country of plateaus, gorges and stone-walled fields, where villages of a few hundred people cluster around fortified churches and the horizon is crowned by the bulk of Penyagolosa, nearly 1,800 metres high. Villafranca del Cid, Culla and Benassal lie in this landscape, and the Roca del Migdia, the Noon Rock, is a shelter in a limestone face that was painted in prehistory.
Read the complete La Roca del migdia write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
La Roca del migdia is where the day begins. Next is Cingle de l'Ermità -Abric V.
Ermità means hermit, and a cingle is a cliff band, so the name tells you what you are looking for: a ledge of rock above a hermitage. The fifth shelter in this group lies beyond Albocàsser, in the Alt Maestrat of northern Castellón, where the limestone has been split into gorges and overhangs. The paintings here belong to the Levantine tradition that UNESCO listed in 1998, red figures drawn thousands of years ago by people who hunted and gathered in these hills before farming arrived.
Read the complete Cingle de l'Ermità -Abric V write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cingle de l'Ermità -Abric V comes up about 64 km into the recorded legs. Next is Galeria del Roure.
Morella rises from the plateau of the Ports like something from a dream: a walled town wrapped around a rocky hill, crowned by a castle, with the Gothic basilica of Santa María la Mayor in the middle, and two kilometres of medieval walls with towers and gates running around the base. It is one of the most impressive historic towns in Spain, and the Galeria del Roure, a rock shelter about four kilometres away, is part of the cluster of prehistoric sites around Morella, including Morella la Vella, one of the important rock-art sites of the Valencian region, all part of the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean rock art. The shelters are small and some are protected, so ask at the tourist office in town about visits.
Read the complete Galeria del Roure write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 117 km into the recorded legs you reach Galeria del Roure. Next is Las Rozas I.
The upper valley of the Guadalope in Teruel is a place where limestone has been folded, cut and carved into an extraordinary array of shapes: cliffs, gorges, natural arches and pinnacles, with the river winding between them in places of startling green. Near Castellote, the painted shelter labelled Las Rozas I is one of the sites of Levantine rock art listed by UNESCO. Its figures are faint and fragile, but they speak of people who hunted deer and ibex in these same valleys thousands of years ago.
Read the complete Las Rozas I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Las Rozas I, about halfway. Next is Abric del mas de Barberà.
Alcañiz is the capital of the Bajo Aragón, a region of olive groves, cereal fields and dry hills crossed by the Guadalope river in the south-east of Aragón. The town is crowned by a castle built for the Order of Calatrava, now a parador, and its main square, with a Gothic loggia and the town hall, is one of the finest in the region. The shelter of the Mas de Barberà lies in the hills just outside town, toward Castelserás and Calanda.
Read the complete Abric del mas de Barberà write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abric del mas de Barberà sits at 155 km, about halfway. Next is back through Las Rozas I.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Las Rozas I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Las Rozas I comes up about 279 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Galeria del Roure.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Galeria del Roure write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 338 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Galeria del Roure. Next is back through Cingle de l'Ermità -Abric V.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cingle de l'Ermità -Abric V write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Cingle de l'Ermità -Abric V, late in the day. Next is La Roca del migdia.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete La Roca del migdia write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 454 km.
La Roca del migdia → Cingle de l'Ermità -Abric V is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cingle de l'Ermità -Abric V → Galeria del Roure is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Galeria del Roure → Las Rozas I is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Las Rozas I → Abric del mas de Barberà is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abric del mas de Barberà → back through Las Rozas I is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Las Rozas I → back through Galeria del Roure is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Galeria del Roure → back through Cingle de l'Ermità -Abric V is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cingle de l'Ermità -Abric V → La Roca del migdia is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.