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.
From Albalate del Arzobispo it runs 145 km to Albalate del Arzobispo; allow about 3 h 17 of riding. The stops in between: 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. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Los Estrechos means the narrows, and the name fits the country around Albalate del Arzobispo, in the Bajo Aragón, where the Martín river squeezes through limestone gorges on its way to the Ebro. The landscape is dry and open, a mixture of olive groves, almond terraces and low scrub, with sudden canyons and cliffs. The Martín valley is protected as a cultural park, because it holds a remarkable series of rock shelters with Levantine and Schematic paintings, some of which belong to the Mediterranean-arc group that UNESCO listed in 1998.
Read the complete Los Estrechos I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Los Estrechos I is where the day begins. Next is 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.
Read the complete Covacho Ahumado write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Covacho Ahumado comes up about 30 km into the recorded legs. Next is 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.
Read the complete Abrigo de la Higuera del Barranco de Ester write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 73 km into the recorded legs you reach Abrigo de la Higuera del Barranco de Ester. Next is back through Covacho Ahumado.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Covacho Ahumado write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Covacho Ahumado, late in the day. Next is Los Estrechos I.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Los Estrechos I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Los Estrechos I. That is the ride.
Los Estrechos I → Covacho Ahumado is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Covacho Ahumado → Abrigo de la Higuera del Barranco de Ester is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo de la Higuera del Barranco de Ester → back through Covacho Ahumado is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Covacho Ahumado → Los Estrechos I is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.