Las Casas de las Ingenieros Il and Abrigo de la fuente

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Las Casas de las Ingenieros Il

   Water from these mountains ends up in the taps of Cartagena. The Taibilla river, which rises in the hills above Nerpio, feeds the canals of the Mancomunidad de los Canales del Taibilla, built in the twentieth century to supply towns across Murcia and beyond, and a name like the engineers' houses hints at how much that project marked the valley. Las Casas de los Ingenieros II is a rock shelter near Nerpio, one of the many painted sites in this remote corner of the Sierra de Segura.

   Read the complete Las Casas de las Ingenieros Il write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Las Casas de las Ingenieros Il is where the day begins. Next is Zona 1.

2. 2. Zona 1

   Nerpio is about as far from anywhere as you can get in mainland Spain. The village lies in the southwestern corner of Albacete province, close to the borders of Murcia, Granada and Jaén, in a high, wild landscape of limestone ridges, pine forest and deep river valleys. The area is known for two things: walnuts, which grow in huge old trees along the Taibilla river and are celebrated in local cooking, and one of the densest concentrations of prehistoric rock art in the Iberian Peninsula, part of the UNESCO-listed rock art of the Mediterranean Basin. The generic label Zona 1 points at the hills near the village, where rock shelters with painted figures are scattered across the cliffs.

   Read the complete Zona 1 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Zona 1 comes up about 26 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abrigo de la fuente.

3. 3. Abrigo de la fuente

   Nerpio is about as remote as it gets in southern Spain: a village in the far south-west corner of Albacete province, deep in the Sierra del Segura, close to the borders of Andalucía and Murcia. It sits in the valley of the Taibilla river, surrounded by mountains, with terraced fields, walnut trees and pine forests on the slopes. The Abrigo de la Fuente, the shelter of the spring, lies in the hills about eleven kilometres from the village.

   Read the complete Abrigo de la fuente write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 67 km into the recorded legs you reach Abrigo de la fuente. Next is back through Zona 1.

4. 4. back through Zona 1

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Zona 1 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Zona 1, late in the day. Next is Las Casas de las Ingenieros Il.

5. 5. Las Casas de las Ingenieros Il

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Las Casas de las Ingenieros Il write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Las Casas de las Ingenieros Il. That is the ride.