mas d'en Badenes and Val del Charco del Agua Amarga
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
396 km
Riding-time estimate
8 h 03
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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 396 km to Villafranca del Cid; allow about 8 h 03 of riding. The stops in between: Abric de la Tenalla, Val del Charco del Agua Amarga and back through Abric de la Tenalla. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,250 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
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 Abric de la Tenalla.
2. Abric de la Tenalla
The Tinença de Benifassà is one of the wildest corners of the Valencian region, a cluster of tiny villages in the mountains where Valencia, Catalonia and Aragon meet, and the Abric de la Tenalla lies on its southeastern edge, near Rosell. It is one of the many rock shelters in this area with prehistoric paintings, part of the UNESCO-listed rock art of the Mediterranean Basin, and the nearby Serra de Godall and the Ulldecona shelters to the east are among the most important sites in Catalonia. The landscape is dramatic: limestone cliffs, deep gorges, pine and holm oak forests, and abandoned terraces where shepherds once grazed their flocks.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abric de la Tenalla comes up 64 km in. Next is Val del Charco del Agua Amarga.
3. Val del Charco del Agua Amarga
Around ten kilometres from Alcañiz, in a dry ravine among olive groves and limestone ledges, a rock shelter holds one of the most celebrated scenes of Levantine rock art in Spain. The paintings at Val del Charco del Agua Amarga show archers in motion, hunting and perhaps fighting, their thin bodies drawn with a few confident strokes in red. Many experts consider it one of the finest examples in the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean rock art, and seeing it, even protected behind a fence, gives a real jolt of connection to people who lived here several thousand years ago.