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 Villafranca del Cid it runs 400 km to Villafranca del Cid; allow about 8 h 37 of riding. The stops in between: Cova de Rull, Galeria del Roure, Las Rozas I and Abric del mas de Barberà. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,250 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. mas d'en Badenes
This is a thinly populated landscape of limestone plateaus, stone-walled terraces, holm oaks and old farmhouses, a world away from the beach resorts an hour to the east.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
mas d'en Badenes is where the day begins. Next is Cova de Rull.
2. Cova de Rull
Cova de Rull sits in the same dry country as its neighbours in the northern Valencian interior, in the hills around Albocàsser, and it carries a different feeling from the great ravine galleries. A cova is a cave, and this one is a modest opening in the rock with painted figures that belong to the Levantine tradition recognised by UNESCO. Archers, animals and signs are rendered in the red pigment that the style is known for, and what survives gives a hint of how many more once decorated the cliffs of this region.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cova de Rull comes up about 38 km into the recorded legs. Next is Galeria del Roure.
3. Galeria del Roure
Morella rises from the plateau of the Ports like something from a dream: a walled town wrapped around a rocky hill, crowned by a castle, with the Gothic basilica of Santa María la Mayor in the middle, and two kilometres of medieval walls with towers and gates running around the base. It is one of the most impressive historic towns in Spain, and the Galeria del Roure, a rock shelter about four kilometres away, is part of the cluster of prehistoric sites around Morella, including Morella la Vella, one of the important rock-art sites of the Valencian region, all part of the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean rock art. The shelters are small and some are protected, so ask at the tourist office in town about visits.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 90 km into the recorded legs you reach Galeria del Roure. Next is Las Rozas I.
4. Las Rozas I
The upper valley of the Guadalope in Teruel is a place where limestone has been folded, cut and carved into an extraordinary array of shapes: cliffs, gorges, natural arches and pinnacles, with the river winding between them in places of startling green. Near Castellote, the painted shelter labelled Las Rozas I is one of the sites of Levantine rock art listed by UNESCO. Its figures are faint and fragile, but they speak of people who hunted deer and ibex in these same valleys thousands of years ago.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Las Rozas I, about halfway. Next is Abric del mas de Barberà.
5. Abric del mas de Barberà
Alcañiz is the capital of the Bajo Aragón, a region of olive groves, cereal fields and dry hills crossed by the Guadalope river in the south-east of Aragón. The town is crowned by a castle built for the Order of Calatrava, now a parador, and its main square, with a Gothic loggia and the town hall, is one of the finest in the region. The shelter of the Mas de Barberà lies in the hills just outside town, toward Castelserás and Calanda.