The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From María it runs 398 km to María; allow about 7 h 29 of riding. It goes by way of Abrigo de la fuente, Andragulla I, Las Cabritas and Andragulla II. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,400 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Lavadero Tello III
Los Vélez is a corner of Almería that most visitors to the coast never see: a high, dry country of pine forest, almond groves and pale limestone peaks, with the Sierra de María rising above two thousand metres. The Lavadero Tello, the washing place at Tello, is on the edge of that mountain land, near María and Vélez-Blanco, and the shelters of the area hold some of the most famous paintings in southern Spain. At the Cueva de los Letreros, near Vélez-Blanco, a small figure with outstretched arms holding a rainbow-like shape is the Indalo, adopted as the symbol of Almería and painted on houses across the province.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Lavadero Tello III is where the day begins. Next is Abrigo de la fuente.
2. 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abrigo de la fuente comes up 35 km in. Next is Andragulla I.
3. Andragulla I
In the far north-west corner of the Region of Murcia, where the land climbs towards the mountains of Albacete and Jaén, lies Moratalla, a town of whitewashed houses piled up a hillside beneath a castle tower. Its countryside is surprisingly wild for Murcia: pine forests, rivers, gorges and limestone ridges, some of the greenest land in a famously dry region. The rock shelter of Andragulla is one of many painted overhangs scattered through these hills, part of the Levantine rock art sites inscribed together by UNESCO. Many are protected behind fences and need a guide; the tourist office in Moratalla can advise.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
70 km in you reach Andragulla I. Next is Las Cabritas.
4. Las Cabritas
Nerpio sits at the edge of the world, or at least at the edge of Albacete province, a small village in the Sierra de Taibilla close to where Murcia, Granada and Jaén come together. Its walnuts are famous, grown in old orchards along the river, and the hills around it hold some of the finest Levantine rock art in Spain. Las Cabritas, the little goats, is a shelter just over a kilometre from the village, named after the animals painted on its walls, and it is part of the World Heritage Site of Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Las Cabritas, about halfway. Next is Andragulla II.
5. Andragulla II
Moratalla is a big, rough municipality, with a rugged interior of pine ridges, rocky gullies and scattered hamlets, and Andragulla is one of those hamlets, twelve kilometres from the town. The shelters are in the folds of the hills south of the village. The surrounding country is one of the least known parts of Murcia, and it is a joy for a rider who likes silence, because the roads are narrow, winding and almost deserted.