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.
331 km from Nerpio to Nerpio, about 8 h 42 of riding. On the way it passes Diosa madre, Abrigo del Engarbo, Letreros de los mártires and back through Abrigo del Engarbo. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,450 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Las Cabritas
Nerpio sits at the edge of the world, or at least at the edge of Albacete province, a small village in the Sierra de Taibilla close to where Murcia, Granada and Jaén come together. Its walnuts are famous, grown in old orchards along the river, and the hills around it hold some of the finest Levantine rock art in Spain. Las Cabritas, the little goats, is a shelter just over a kilometre from the village, named after the animals painted on its walls, and it is part of the World Heritage Site of Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Las Cabritas is where the day begins. Next is Diosa madre.
2. Diosa madre
Some places on a map feel remote; this one actually is. The point named Diosa Madre, mother goddess, lies in the mountains of the Sierra de Segura, in the far southwest of Albacete province, roughly sixteen kilometres from Yeste and not far from the border with Jaén. The mountains themselves are the real experience.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Diosa madre comes up about 49 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abrigo del Engarbo.
3. Abrigo del Engarbo
Deep in the Sierra de Segura in the northeast of Jaén province, close to where the Segura river is born, the Engarbo rock shelters hide a few small painted figures under limestone overhangs. They belong to the great serial UNESCO listing of Levantine rock art, prehistoric paintings found along the mountains of eastern Spain, with stylised humans and animals in red ochre that have survived thousands of years of sun, frost and goats. The shelters are modest and fragile, often fenced, and visits usually need to be arranged locally, so treat them as a reason to explore this remote corner rather than a guaranteed sight.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 119 km into the recorded legs you reach Abrigo del Engarbo. Next is Letreros de los mártires.
4. Letreros de los mártires
Out in the high north-east of Granada province, Huéscar feels a long way from the Alhambra and the beaches of the Costa Tropical. This is the altiplano, a broad upland of wheat fields, almond trees and pale badlands at around a thousand metres, ringed by mountains, with the great limestone hump of La Sagra rising to the north. The rock shelter called Letreros de los Mártires lies in this country, a dozen or so kilometres from the town.