CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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 319 km to María; allow about 6 h 28 of riding. It goes by way of Molinos II, Letreros de los mártires, Río frío and back through Letreros de los mártires. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,450 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
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.
Read the complete Lavadero Tello III write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Lavadero Tello III is where the day begins. Next is Molinos II.
Vélez-Blanco is a white town under a limestone wall, and the castle above it is one of the oddest in Spain. The Marquises of Los Vélez built it in the early sixteenth century, in a hurry to look both fortified and Italian, so the outside has round towers and the inside had a marble Renaissance courtyard that was later sold, piece by piece, and ended up in New York's Metropolitan Museum. Below the castle the town clings to the slope, with narrow lanes and a church, and the Sierra María-Los Vélez rises behind, a natural park of pine, juniper and bare crags. At about a thousand metres, it is cold in winter and delicious in summer.
Read the complete Molinos II write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Molinos II comes up 36 km in. Next is Letreros de los mártires.
Out in the high north-east of Granada province, Huéscar feels a long way from the Alhambra and the beaches of the Costa Tropical. This is the altiplano, a broad upland of wheat fields, almond trees and pale badlands at around a thousand metres, ringed by mountains, with the great limestone hump of La Sagra rising to the north. The rock shelter called Letreros de los Mártires lies in this country, a dozen or so kilometres from the town.
Read the complete Letreros de los mártires write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
73 km in you reach Letreros de los mártires. Next is Río frío.
Cold water is a rare luxury in southern Spain, and a stream called Río Frío promises exactly that. It is a land of pine forests, limestone crags, deep river gorges and tiny villages, and the painted rock shelters scattered through these hills are part of the UNESCO listing of rock art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula.
Read the complete Río frío write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Río frío, about halfway. Next is back through Letreros de los mártires.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Letreros de los mártires write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Letreros de los mártires sits at 145 km, about halfway. Next is back through Molinos II.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Molinos II write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Molinos II comes up 182 km in. Next is Lavadero Tello III.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Lavadero Tello III write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Lavadero Tello III closes the day.
Lavadero Tello III → Molinos II is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Molinos II → Letreros de los mártires is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Letreros de los mártires → Río frío is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Río frío → back through Letreros de los mártires is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Letreros de los mártires → back through Molinos II is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Molinos II → Lavadero Tello III is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.