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.
A 297 km round trip from Velez Rubio - roughly 7 h 16 in the saddle. The stops in between: Andragulla I, Abrigo del Engarbo and back through Andragulla I. 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.
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 is where the day begins. 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.
Andragulla I comes up about 86 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 143 km into the recorded legs you reach Abrigo del Engarbo. Next is back through Andragulla I.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Andragulla I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Andragulla I, late in the day. Next is 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 at Los Paradores. That is the ride.
Los Paradores → Andragulla I is 86 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Andragulla I → Abrigo del Engarbo is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo del Engarbo → back through Andragulla I is 68 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Andragulla I → Los Paradores is 86 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.