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 276 km round trip from Velez Rubio - roughly 5 h 54 in the saddle. On the way it passes Fuensanta II, Abrigo del milano and back through Fuensanta II. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,200 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
A covatica is a little cave, and the diminutive is charming, because the shelters of Las Covaticas are small, shallow hollows in the rock rather than great vaulted caverns. They lie in the high, dry country of north Almería, far into the hills beyond Vélez-Blanco, where the land climbs toward the Sierra de María and the horizon is made of bare ridges and pale fields of cereal. It is a very different Spain from the beach resorts of the south coast, and the people who live here are used to long winters and big skies.
Read the complete Las Covaticas II write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Las Covaticas II is where the day begins. Next is Fuensanta II.
Fuensanta II is the sort of name only an archaeologist could love, a numbered rock shelter in the hills of northwest Murcia where prehistoric painters left a handful of figures on the stone. It is one of the hundreds of sites grouped under UNESCO's listing of rock art in the Mediterranean Basin of the Iberian Peninsula, and the Moratalla area is unusually rich in them. The paintings are small, faint to the untrained eye and protected, so the real value of coming is to understand the landscape that drew people here thousands of years ago: springs, shelter and game in rough, broken country.
Read the complete Fuensanta II write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fuensanta II comes up about 70 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 128 km into the recorded legs you reach Abrigo del milano. Next is back through Fuensanta II.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fuensanta II write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fuensanta II, late in the day. Next is Las Covaticas II.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Las Covaticas II write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Las Covaticas II. That is the ride.
Las Covaticas II → Fuensanta II is 70 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fuensanta II → Abrigo del milano is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo del milano → back through Fuensanta II is 78 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fuensanta II → Las Covaticas II is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.