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 71 km to Velez Rubio; allow about 1 h 58 of riding. It goes by way of Izquierda E. de Santonje, Lázar and back through Izquierda E. de Santonje. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,250 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
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 Izquierda E. de Santonje, 17 km on.
The Indalo is everywhere in Almería: a little stick figure holding an arc over its head, painted on houses, sold as a souvenir and used as the symbol of the province. It comes from a rock shelter near Vélez-Blanco, the Cueva de los Letreros, where it was painted in prehistoric times, and the area around the village is rich in rock art, part of the World Heritage rock art of the Mediterranean. The shelters around Santonje, near the villages of María and Vélez-Blanco, are among them.
Read the complete Izquierda E. de Santonje write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Izquierda E. de Santonje comes up about 20 km into the recorded legs. Next is Lázar.
The Vélez comarca in northern Almería sits high and dry, a land of almond trees, steppe and pale limestone ranges that feels more like the Castilian interior than the beach resorts of the south coast. Lázar lies in this country, near the villages of María and Vélez-Blanco, within the Sierra María-Los Vélez natural park. The area is known for some of the most important prehistoric art in Andalusia, and the best-known symbol is the Indalo, a little stick figure holding an arc above its head, taken from a painting in the cave of Los Letreros near Vélez-Blanco and adopted as the emblem of the whole province.
Read the complete Lázar write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 35 km into the recorded legs you reach Lázar. Next is back through Izquierda E. de Santonje, 16 km on.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Izquierda E. de Santonje write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Izquierda E. de Santonje, 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 → Izquierda E. de Santonje is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Izquierda E. de Santonje → Lázar is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Lázar → back through Izquierda E. de Santonje is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Izquierda E. de Santonje → Molinos I is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.