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.
325 km from Alhama de Murcia to Alhama de Murcia, about 7 h 50 of riding. It goes by way of Los Paradores, Andragulla I and back through Los Paradores. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,150 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Jackdaws gave this place its name, grajos in Spanish, and they still wheel and chatter around the limestone cliffs where prehistoric people once sheltered and painted. Los Grajos lies in the hills near Alhama de Murcia, in the valley of the Guadalentín, where dry mountains rise above a plain of orchards, greenhouses and towns. The rock shelters here hold paintings in the Levantine style, and access is generally restricted to protect them.
Read the complete Los Grajos write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Los Grajos is where the day begins. Next is Los Paradores.
The far north of Almería province is not the desert most people imagine. Around Vélez-Blanco and María the land rises into the Sierra de María-Los Vélez Natural Park, a range of limestone peaks with pine and holm oak forest, high plains of cereal and almond and villages that can see snow in winter. Los Paradores is one of the rock art sites in this area, part of the UNESCO listing of the Mediterranean Iberian rock art, and the region holds one of the most famous painted shelters in Spain, the Cueva de los Letreros, home of the Indalo, a stick figure holding an arc over its head that has become the symbol of Almería.
Read the complete Los Paradores write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Los Paradores comes up about 80 km into the recorded legs. Next is 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.
Read the complete Andragulla I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 158 km into the recorded legs you reach Andragulla I. Next is back through Los Paradores.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Los Paradores write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Los Paradores, late in the day. Next is Los Grajos.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Los Grajos write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Los Grajos. That is the ride.
Los Grajos → Los Paradores is 80 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Los Paradores → Andragulla I is 78 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Andragulla I → back through Los Paradores is 86 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Los Paradores → Los Grajos is 81 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.