Los Chaparros and Abrigo de la Higuera del Barranco de Ester
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
142 km
Riding-time estimate
3 h 14
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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 142 km round trip from Albalate del Arzobispo - roughly 3 h 14 in the saddle. It goes by way of Covacho Ahumado, Abrigo de la Higuera del Barranco de Ester and back through Covacho Ahumado. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,100 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Los Chaparros
Albalate del Arzobispo takes its name from its former masters, the archbishops of Zaragoza, and from an Arabic word for a paved road, which suggests the place has been a crossing point for a very long time. It sits in the Bajo Aragón on the Río Martín, a river that has cut a deep, dry gorge through the limestone on its way to the Ebro, and the Los Chaparros shelter, the Holm-Oak Shelter, lies about five and a half kilometres from the town. It belongs to a group of painted shelters, in the Levantine style, protected by UNESCO as part of the rock art of the Mediterranean basin in Spain and managed locally as a cultural park along the river.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Los Chaparros is where the day begins. Next is Covacho Ahumado.
2. Covacho Ahumado
The name means the smoky little shelter, and it fits: a modest overhang darkened by soot, one of the rock art sites around Alacón in the Río Martín Cultural Park in Teruel province. The Martín river has carved canyons through limestone here, and its walls hold dozens of painted panels, from naturalistic Levantine hunting scenes to the later schematic style of stick figures and symbols. Alacón alone has several groups of shelters, and the park has an interpretation centre in the area to explain them.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Covacho Ahumado comes up about 28 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abrigo de la Higuera del Barranco de Ester.
3. Abrigo de la Higuera del Barranco de Ester
The Río Martín country of Teruel is a place of deep gorges and bare, honey-coloured hills, and Oliete and Estercuel are two of its tiny villages. The Abrigo de la Higuera del Barranco de Ester is a small shelter in a side ravine, named for the fig tree that grows at its mouth, and it holds paintings that belong to the rock art of the Mediterranean Basin, as protected by UNESCO. The pictures include the small red figures of the Levantine tradition, and the setting, under an overhang of golden rock, is a good place to sit and think about how few things have changed in the landscape.