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.
From Moratalla it runs 335 km to Moratalla; allow about 8 h 47 of riding. It goes by way of friso de los Gitanos o Abrigo del Cazador, Diosa madre, Abrigo del Engarbo and back through Diosa madre. 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.
Moratalla stands at the north-west corner of Murcia like a lookout post, and the highlands behind it feel far from the coast. The town is crowned by a medieval castle and its streets run down a steep hillside, and the municipality covers a huge area of pine forest, ravines and rock shelters, many of them holding prehistoric paintings that now sit on the World Heritage list. The Molino de Capel, a watermill name from a rural spot in the hills near the Albacete border, belongs to that scattered countryside, where old farms, mills and caves sit in a landscape of rosemary, thyme and holm oak.
Read the complete Molino de Capel I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Molino de Capel I is where the day begins. Next is friso de los Gitanos o Abrigo del Cazador.
Nerpio sits at about a thousand metres in the Sierra de Segura foothills, at the far south-west corner of Albacete province, in a high valley that feels closer to Andalusia than to La Mancha. It is an out-of-the-way place, with orchards of apples, almond and walnut trees in the valley bottoms and bare limestone peaks above. The area is famous among specialists for its rock art: dozens of shelters in the surrounding gorges hold paintings of the Levantine and Schematic styles, and they are part of the Mediterranean-arc group UNESCO listed in 1998. The Friso de los Gitanos, the Gypsies' Frieze, is one of the better known, and the name tells you that locals have been looking at it for a long time.
Read the complete friso de los Gitanos o Abrigo del Cazador write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
friso de los Gitanos o Abrigo del Cazador comes up about 28 km into the recorded legs. Next is Diosa madre.
Some places on a map feel remote; this one actually is. The point named Diosa Madre, mother goddess, lies in the mountains of the Sierra de Segura, in the far southwest of Albacete province, roughly sixteen kilometres from Yeste and not far from the border with Jaén. The mountains themselves are the real experience.
Read the complete Diosa madre write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 86 km into the recorded legs you reach Diosa madre. 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.
Abrigo del Engarbo, about halfway. Next is back through Diosa madre.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Diosa madre write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Diosa madre sits at 111 km, about halfway. Next is back through friso de los Gitanos o Abrigo del Cazador.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete friso de los Gitanos o Abrigo del Cazador write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through friso de los Gitanos o Abrigo del Cazador comes up about 308 km into the recorded legs. Next is Molino de Capel I.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Molino de Capel I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Molino de Capel I closes the day.
Molino de Capel I → friso de los Gitanos o Abrigo del Cazador is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
friso de los Gitanos o Abrigo del Cazador → Diosa madre is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Diosa madre → Abrigo del Engarbo is 70 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo del Engarbo → back through Diosa madre is 94 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Diosa madre → back through friso de los Gitanos o Abrigo del Cazador is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through friso de los Gitanos o Abrigo del Cazador → Molino de Capel I is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.