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.
From Nerpio it runs 342 km to Nerpio; allow about 7 h 59 of riding. The stops in between: Benizar V, Abrigo del Pozo III, Abrigo del Canto Blanco and Abrigo del mediodía I. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,350 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
The name points to engineers, and in this corner of Albacete the likeliest explanation is water. The upper Segura and Taibilla valleys feed reservoirs and canals that supply towns and farms far down toward Murcia and the coast, and the people who built and maintained that system needed houses in a remote landscape. Las Casas de los Ingenieros sits some distance from Nerpio, in a quiet valley of pine, scrub and farmland, with a rock shelter nearby, and the whole area is dotted with painted shelters from the prehistoric past. Other shelters in the area carry the names of the people who first recorded them, a reminder of how recently some of these sites were noticed.
Read the complete Las Casas de las Ingenieros I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Las Casas de las Ingenieros I is where the day begins. Next is Benizar V.
Benizar is one of those places that only a handful of maps bother to name. It is a hamlet belonging to Moratalla, in the hilly north-west of the Murcia region, close to where the province meets Albacete and the first ridges of the Sierra de Segura begin. Around it, in the rock faces and gullies, archaeologists have recorded a cluster of painted shelters, and Benizar V is one in this series: a stone overhang with faint prehistoric figures, part of the Levantine rock art that runs along Spain's eastern mountains.
Read the complete Benizar V write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Benizar V comes up about 33 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abrigo del Pozo III.
The Segura river cuts through the north-west of Murcia in a series of gorges and green oases, and near Calasparra its banks hold a surprising treasure. The Abrigo del Pozo shelters, of which this is the third, contain prehistoric paintings in the Levantine style, small human and animal figures in red ochre that form part of the World Heritage rock art of the Mediterranean arc. The shelters are fragile and generally protected, often visited only with a guide, so check with the local tourist office before you count on seeing them.
Read the complete Abrigo del Pozo III write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 75 km into the recorded legs you reach Abrigo del Pozo III. Next is Abrigo del Canto Blanco.
Jumilla is wine country, and you know it as soon as you arrive. The town sits in the north of the Murcia region, surrounded by a high, dry plateau of vineyards growing the Monastrell grape, which produces powerful, dark red wines. A castle tops the hill above the old town, and the bodegas on its outskirts welcome visitors. The Abrigo del Canto Blanco, the shelter of the white stone, lies in the hills about five kilometres away.
Read the complete Abrigo del Canto Blanco write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo del Canto Blanco, about halfway. Next is Abrigo del mediodía I.
North of Yecla, where the Murcia region meets Albacete, the land rises into a series of isolated limestone hills above a wide, dry plain of vineyards and almond groves. The rock shelters scattered through this country, including the Abrigo del Mediodía, are part of the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean Iberian rock art. The best known cluster is on Monte Arabí, a striking, isolated rock mountain north of the town, whose Cantos de la Visera shelters hold both Levantine and schematic paintings.
Read the complete Abrigo del mediodía I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo del mediodía I sits at 161 km, about halfway. Next is back through Abrigo del Canto Blanco.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo del Canto Blanco write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Abrigo del Canto Blanco comes up about 216 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Abrigo del Pozo III.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo del Pozo III write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 267 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Abrigo del Pozo III. Next is back through Benizar V.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Benizar V write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Benizar V, late in the day. Next is Las Casas de las Ingenieros I.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Las Casas de las Ingenieros I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 342 km.
Las Casas de las Ingenieros I → Benizar V is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Benizar V → Abrigo del Pozo III is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo del Pozo III → Abrigo del Canto Blanco is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo del Canto Blanco → Abrigo del mediodía I is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo del mediodía I → back through Abrigo del Canto Blanco is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abrigo del Canto Blanco → back through Abrigo del Pozo III is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abrigo del Pozo III → back through Benizar V is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Benizar V → Las Casas de las Ingenieros I is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.