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.
520 km from Albocàsser to Albocàsser, about 11 h 02 of riding. The stops in between: Racó de Nando, Castell de Villafamés, Cova de Gargán and Abrigo del Arenal de la fonseca ó Abrigo d. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,350 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
If the rock art of eastern Spain has a capital, it is the Valltorta gorge in the Maestrat of Castellón, and the Mas d'en Josep shelter is one of its classic sites. The paintings here belong to the Levantine style, small, lively scenes of hunters with bows, running figures and animals in motion, drawn with an energy that still feels modern. One famous panel from this area shows a deer hunt; others depict archers in mid-stride. The shelters of the Valltorta are part of the UNESCO-listed rock art of the Mediterranean Basin, and the museum at Tírig, near the gorge, is the place to start: it explains the art, shows reproductions, and organises guided visits to the shelters, which are fenced and protected.
Read the complete mas d'en Josep- Abric l write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
mas d'en Josep- Abric l is where the day begins. Next is Racó de Nando.
Racó means corner in Valencian, and this really is a corner: a fold in the limestone hills between Benassal, Culla and Vilafranca, in the interior of Castellón where the coast's crowds feel a continent away. The rock shelter here is one of the many small sites of Levantine prehistoric painting that together make up a UNESCO World Heritage listing, and like most of them it is modest, fenced and best seen with a local guide. What lingers is less the painting than the idea of hunters choosing this exact overhang, with water close by and a view down the valley, and leaving their mark on it.
Read the complete Racó de Nando write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Racó de Nando comes up about 34 km into the recorded legs. Next is Castell de Villafamés.
Villafamés announces itself from a long way off: a village of white and ochre houses stacked up a hill of reddish rock, with the remains of a castle crowning the top. It stands a little inland from the coast of Castellón, roughly between Borriol, Cabanes and the beach town of Benicàssim, close enough to the sea that you can smell salt on a westerly breeze turning, yet already in that rumpled hill country that leads up into the Maestrat.
Read the complete Castell de Villafamés write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 82 km into the recorded legs you reach Castell de Villafamés. Next is Cova de Gargán.
High in the interior of Castellón, where the coastal orange groves are long forgotten and the land climbs toward the Penyagolosa massif, the shelter known as Cova de Gargán sits in a country of limestone ledges, holm oak and dry-stone terraces. Vistabella del Maestrazgo is the nearest village, a handful of kilometres away on its high plateau, with Villahermosa del Río down in its valley to the other side and Lucena del Cid a little further south. It is quiet up here in a way that the coast never is.
Read the complete Cova de Gargán write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cova de Gargán, about halfway. Next is Abrigo del Arenal de la fonseca ó Abrigo d.
The Guadalope river cuts a deep canyon through the limestone of the Maestrazgo in eastern Teruel, and the Abrigo del Arenal de la Fonseca lies in this wild country near the hamlet of Ladruñán, between the villages of Castellote and Cantavieja. It is one of the important rock-art shelters of Aragon, part of the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean prehistoric art, with Levantine paintings of animals and human figures in red pigment on the rock. The setting is spectacular: a narrow gorge with towering cliffs, the river flowing below, and pine and holm oak clinging to the slopes. Access involves a walk, and the paintings are protected by a fence.
Read the complete Abrigo del Arenal de la fonseca ó Abrigo d write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo del Arenal de la fonseca ó Abrigo d sits at 178 km, about halfway. Next is back through Cova de Gargán.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cova de Gargán write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Cova de Gargán comes up about 394 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Castell de Villafamés.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Castell de Villafamés write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 437 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Castell de Villafamés. Next is back through Racó de Nando.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Racó de Nando write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Racó de Nando, late in the day. Next is mas d'en Josep- Abric l.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete mas d'en Josep- Abric l write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 520 km.
mas d'en Josep- Abric l → Racó de Nando is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Racó de Nando → Castell de Villafamés is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Castell de Villafamés → Cova de Gargán is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cova de Gargán → Abrigo del Arenal de la fonseca ó Abrigo d is 134 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Abrigo del Arenal de la fonseca ó Abrigo d → back through Cova de Gargán is 134 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Cova de Gargán → back through Castell de Villafamés is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Castell de Villafamés → back through Racó de Nando is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Racó de Nando → mas d'en Josep- Abric l is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.