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.
267 km from Puebla de Don Fadrique to Puebla de Don Fadrique, about 6 h 33 of riding. The stops in between: Río frío, Cañada de la Cruz, Abrigo del Engarbo and Arroyo de la fuente de las Zorras. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,450 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
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.
Letreros de los mártires is where the day begins. 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 comes up about 43 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cañada de la Cruz.
The Cañada de la Cruz is a high valley or drovers' pasture in the Segura mountains; cañada is the word for the traditional livestock routes and grazing grounds used by shepherds moving their flocks between summer and winter pastures, and this part of Spain has a long history of transhumance.
Read the complete Cañada de la Cruz write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 67 km into the recorded legs you reach Cañada de la Cruz. Next is Abrigo del Engarbo.
Deep in the Sierra de Segura in the northeast of Jaén province, close to where the Segura river is born, the Engarbo rock shelters hide a few small painted figures under limestone overhangs. They belong to the great serial UNESCO listing of Levantine rock art, prehistoric paintings found along the mountains of eastern Spain, with stylised humans and animals in red ochre that have survived thousands of years of sun, frost and goats. The shelters are modest and fragile, often fenced, and visits usually need to be arranged locally, so treat them as a reason to explore this remote corner rather than a guaranteed sight.
Read the complete Abrigo del Engarbo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo del Engarbo, about halfway. Next is Arroyo de la fuente de las Zorras.
The name means the stream of the foxes' spring, which is the kind of place name that only survives in country where people still walk. The ravines around Nerpio hold dozens of painted rock shelters, with Levantine and Schematic paintings of hunters, animals and symbols, and they form part of the UNESCO listing of rock art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula. Visits to many of them need to be arranged through the local interpretation centre.
Read the complete Arroyo de la fuente de las Zorras write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Arroyo de la fuente de las Zorras sits at 77 km, about halfway. Next is back through Abrigo del Engarbo.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo del Engarbo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Abrigo del Engarbo comes up about 175 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Cañada de la Cruz.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cañada de la Cruz write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 198 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Cañada de la Cruz. Next is back through Río frío.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Río frío write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Río frío, late in the day. Next is 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.
The route ends here after 267 km.
Letreros de los mártires → Río frío is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Río frío → Cañada de la Cruz is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cañada de la Cruz → Abrigo del Engarbo is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo del Engarbo → Arroyo de la fuente de las Zorras is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Arroyo de la fuente de las Zorras → back through Abrigo del Engarbo is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abrigo del Engarbo → back through Cañada de la Cruz is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cañada de la Cruz → back through Río frío is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Río frío → Letreros de los mártires is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.