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 Velez Rubio it runs 296 km to Velez Rubio; allow about 8 h 24 of riding. It goes by way of Los Paradores, Cueva de la Plata, Abrigo del milano and back through Cueva de la Plata. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,050 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Los Vélez is a district of its own, a high, dry corner of northern Almería where the province meets Murcia and Granada, and the title of its old masters, the Marquises of Los Vélez, still hangs over it. Las Covachas is a rock shelter about four kilometres from Vélez-Blanco and a bit more from Vélez Rubio, and it belongs to a rich local group of painted sites that includes the famous Cueva de los Letreros. The paintings are in the Levantine style, protected as part of the UNESCO rock art of the Mediterranean basin in Spain. Other shelters have stronger images, so treat this as part of a pattern, not a highlight.
Read the complete Las Covachas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Las Covachas is where the day begins. Next is Los Paradores.
The far north of Almería province is not the desert most people imagine. Around Vélez-Blanco and María the land rises into the Sierra de María-Los Vélez Natural Park, a range of limestone peaks with pine and holm oak forest, high plains of cereal and almond and villages that can see snow in winter. Los Paradores is one of the rock art sites in this area, part of the UNESCO listing of the Mediterranean Iberian rock art, and the region holds one of the most famous painted shelters in Spain, the Cueva de los Letreros, home of the Indalo, a stick figure holding an arc over its head that has become the symbol of Almería.
Read the complete Los Paradores write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Los Paradores comes up about 35 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cueva de la Plata.
Aledo is a tiny village on a rocky spur in the hills of Murcia, a place that punches well above its weight in history. In the eleventh century, it was a fortress on the frontier between Christian Castile and the Muslim taifa kingdoms, and the siege of Aledo in 1088 was a major episode in the struggle for the peninsula. A tower still stands above the village. The Cueva de la Plata, the silver cave, lies in the hills nearby, between Aledo, Totana and Alhama de Murcia.
Read the complete Cueva de la Plata write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 97 km into the recorded legs you reach Cueva de la Plata. 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 la Plata.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cueva de la Plata write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Cueva de la Plata sits at 128 km, about halfway. Next is back through Los Paradores.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Los Paradores write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Los Paradores comes up about 262 km into the recorded legs. Next is Las Covachas.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Las Covachas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Las Covachas closes the day.
Las Covachas → Los Paradores is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Los Paradores → Cueva de la Plata is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cueva de la Plata → Abrigo del milano is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo del milano → back through Cueva de la Plata is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cueva de la Plata → back through Los Paradores is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Los Paradores → Las Covachas is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.