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 Velez Rubio it runs 342 km to Velez Rubio; allow about 5 h 34 of riding. The stops in between: Cueva de la Plata, Las Cazuelas and back through Cueva de la Plata. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,150 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Molinos means mills, and the name tells you how this corner of Almería was run. Above Vélez-Blanco, the sierra drops snow and rain on limestone that gives it back as springs, and for centuries the streams below were harnessed by grain mills, fulling mills and irrigation channels. Many were laid out under Moorish rule, and the system of acequias that still waters fields in the Los Vélez valley follows their pattern. The shelter at Molinos I, a bit under two kilometres from Vélez-Blanco, belongs to the rich cluster of painted sites around the town, in the Levantine tradition protected by UNESCO as part of the rock art of the Mediterranean basin in Spain. The ride also links it to the site known as Guijarral, a name that means pebbly ground.
Read the complete Molinos I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Molinos I is where the day begins. Next is Cueva de la Plata.
Aledo is a tiny village on a rocky spur in the hills of Murcia, a place that punches well above its weight in history. In the eleventh century, it was a fortress on the frontier between Christian Castile and the Muslim taifa kingdoms, and the siege of Aledo in 1088 was a major episode in the struggle for the peninsula. A tower still stands above the village. The Cueva de la Plata, the silver cave, lies in the hills nearby, between Aledo, Totana and Alhama de Murcia.
Read the complete Cueva de la Plata write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cueva de la Plata comes up about 80 km into the recorded legs. Next is Las Cazuelas.
Moratalla is the kind of hill town that looks as though it was poured down a slope: white houses tumbling below a castle tower, narrow lanes too steep for comfort, church bells echoing off the hills. Ten kilometres out, in the rugged country of north-west Murcia, the shelter of Las Cazuelas holds prehistoric paintings, part of the region's contribution to the UNESCO-listed Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin. The paintings are fragile and protected, and access is usually by guided visit, arranged in Moratalla or through the regional authorities.
Read the complete Las Cazuelas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 171 km into the recorded legs you reach Las Cazuelas. Next is back through Cueva de la Plata.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cueva de la Plata write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Cueva de la Plata, late in the day. Next is Molinos I.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Molinos I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Molinos I. That is the ride.
Molinos I → Cueva de la Plata is 80 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cueva de la Plata → Las Cazuelas is 91 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Las Cazuelas → back through Cueva de la Plata is 91 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cueva de la Plata → Molinos I is 80 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.