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.
215 km from Velez Rubio to Velez Rubio, about 6 h 21 of riding. It goes by way of Derecho E. de Santonje, Colmenas, Central E. de Santonje and back through Colmenas. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,300 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
The name Las Covaticas means the little caves, and the whole area south of Vélez Blanco is a country of small hollows in the rock. The ground rises from the plain of Vélez Rubio to the long ridges of the Sierra de María, where pine forests and bare slopes meet wide sky, and the air at more than a thousand metres feels cool and thin. Vélez Rubio, a town of about 7,000 people 15 km away, is the largest place in the area, with a grand baroque church that seems too big for its surroundings. The Renaissance castle of Vélez Blanco stands nearby on its crag.
Read the complete Las Covaticas I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Las Covaticas I is where the day begins. Next is Derecho E. de Santonje, 25 km on.
Here the high plateau of northern Almería feels as far from the beach resorts as it is possible to be. The land is a wide, dry tableland of cereal fields, almond groves and scrubby pine, at about a thousand metres, with the Sierra de María rising above it in bare limestone ridges. The little village of María and the towns of Vélez Rubio and Vélez-Blanco are the centres of the district, known as Los Vélez, and the shelters of the area, including this one, hold prehistoric paintings in the Levantine style.
Read the complete Derecho E. de Santonje write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Derecho E. de Santonje comes up about 57 km into the recorded legs. Next is Colmenas.
Vélez-Blanco is a white town under a limestone crag in the north of Almería province, with a Renaissance castle on the rock above it and the pine-covered Sierra María rising behind. The Colmenas label sits less than a kilometre away, in country of dry slopes, almond groves and scattered farms.
Read the complete Colmenas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 83 km into the recorded legs you reach Colmenas. Next is Central E. de Santonje, 26 km on.
The Indalo, a little stick figure holding an arc over its head, is now the symbol of the whole province of Almería, painted on houses, cars and souvenirs, and it comes from a rock shelter here in the hills around Vélez-Blanco. The Cueva de los Letreros, a few kilometres from this point, holds the original among other paintings of the Levantine and schematic styles, and the shelters of the Sierra de María are part of the World Heritage Site of Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula, inscribed in 1998. Santonje, as the area is called, is one of a cluster of sites in these mountains.
Read the complete Central E. de Santonje write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Central E. de Santonje, about halfway. Next is back through Colmenas.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Colmenas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Colmenas sits at 101 km, about halfway. Next is back through Derecho E. de Santonje, 25 km on.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Derecho E. de Santonje write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Derecho E. de Santonje comes up about 157 km into the recorded legs. Next is Las Covaticas I.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Las Covaticas I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Las Covaticas I closes the day.
Las Covaticas I → Derecho E. de Santonje is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Derecho E. de Santonje → Colmenas is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Colmenas → Central E. de Santonje is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Central E. de Santonje → back through Colmenas is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Colmenas → back through Derecho E. de Santonje is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Derecho E. de Santonje → Las Covaticas I is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.