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.
A 209 km round trip from Nerpio - roughly 3 h in the saddle. The stops in between: Cueva del Esquilo, Cueva de las Palamas, Abrigo del milano and back through Cueva de las Palamas. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,350 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Las Casas de las Ingenieros Il is where the day begins. Next is Cueva del Esquilo.
The border between Albacete and Murcia runs through a tangle of mountains here, and the villages of Socovos, Férez and Letur sit among them like small islands. The Cueva del Esquilo is one of the painted rock shelters in these hills, a reminder that people lived and hunted in the Segura mountains thousands of years before any border existed. Like most of the rock art in the region, it is protected and best visited with local guidance; the town halls and tourist offices of the surrounding villages are the place to ask.
Read the complete Cueva del Esquilo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cueva del Esquilo comes up about 24 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cueva de las Palamas.
Cehegín, in the north-west of the Murcia region, is a town of two faces: a modern lower town, and an old town on a hill, with steep streets, noble houses and churches, declared a historic site. The Cueva de las Palomas, the cave of the doves, lies on the edge of the town, less than a kilometre from the centre, with the larger town of Caravaca de la Cruz about five kilometres away.
Read the complete Cueva de las Palamas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 73 km into the recorded legs you reach Cueva de las Palamas. Next is Abrigo del milano.
Bullas is wine country, and the vineyards of Monastrell grapes roll over the hills around the town in the northwest of Murcia, producing robust red wines under their own denomination of origin. The Abrigo del Milano, the kite's shelter, named after the bird of prey that circles over these hills, lies in the countryside between Bullas, Mula and Pliego. It is one of the many rock shelters in Murcia with prehistoric paintings, part of the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean rock art, though access to many shelters is restricted to protect them, so ask locally before trying to visit.
Read the complete Abrigo del milano write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo del milano, about halfway. Next is back through Cueva de las Palamas.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cueva de las Palamas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Cueva de las Palamas sits at 116 km, about halfway. Next is back through Cueva del Esquilo.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cueva del Esquilo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Cueva del Esquilo comes up about 186 km into the recorded legs. Next is Las Casas de las Ingenieros Il.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Las Casas de las Ingenieros Il write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Las Casas de las Ingenieros Il closes the day.
Las Casas de las Ingenieros Il → Cueva del Esquilo is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cueva del Esquilo → Cueva de las Palamas is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cueva de las Palamas → Abrigo del milano is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo del milano → back through Cueva de las Palamas is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cueva de las Palamas → back through Cueva del Esquilo is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cueva del Esquilo → Las Casas de las Ingenieros Il is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.