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.
A 507 km round trip from Aldeaquemada - roughly 13 h 41 in the saddle. The stops in between: Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda, Abrigo del.melgar, Letreros de los mártires and Central E. de Santonje. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,400 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Aldeaquemada means burnt village, which tells you something about the history of this lonely corner of Jaén, and the shelter named Morciguilla de la Cepera sits in the hills about ten kilometres away, in the Sierra Morena. That range forms the long dark edge between the high plateau of La Mancha and the Andalusian lowlands, and its slopes are some of the richest places in Spain for rock painting. Shelters here include both Levantine figures and the simpler schematic ones, and a number are protected as part of the UNESCO-listed rock art of the Iberian Mediterranean basin.
Read the complete morciguilla de la Cepera write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
morciguilla de la Cepera is where the day begins. Next is Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda.
Úbeda stands on a ridge above an ocean of olive trees. In every direction, the province of Jaén rolls away in silver-green rows, millions of trees planted in geometric lines up to the horizon, and on this sea floats a town of honey-coloured stone that looks as if it had been lifted from Florence. In the sixteenth century, powerful local families who served the Spanish crown, above all Francisco de los Cobos, secretary to Emperor Charles V, poured their wealth into palaces and churches here, and the architect Andrés de Vandelvira gave them a Renaissance style of rare purity. Úbeda and its smaller neighbour Baeza were inscribed together on the UNESCO list in 2003.
Read the complete Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda comes up about 62 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abrigo del.melgar, 52 km on.
Quesada is a white town at the foot of the Sierra de Cazorla, in the province of Jaén, surrounded by an ocean of olive trees. The groves stretch to the horizon in every direction, a landscape that makes Jaén the world's largest producer of olive oil. Behind the town, the mountains rise steeply, with pine forest and limestone cliffs, and the Guadalquivir river has its source not far away. The Abrigo del Melgar lies in the hills just outside the town.
Read the complete Abrigo del.melgar write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 108 km into the recorded legs you reach Abrigo del.melgar. Next is Letreros de los mártires.
Out in the high north-east of Granada province, Huéscar feels a long way from the Alhambra and the beaches of the Costa Tropical. This is the altiplano, a broad upland of wheat fields, almond trees and pale badlands at around a thousand metres, ringed by mountains, with the great limestone hump of La Sagra rising to the north. The rock shelter called Letreros de los Mártires lies in this country, a dozen or so kilometres from the town.
Read the complete Letreros de los mártires write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Letreros de los mártires, about halfway. Next is Central E. de Santonje, 51 km on.
The Indalo, a little stick figure holding an arc over its head, is now the symbol of the whole province of Almería, painted on houses, cars and souvenirs, and it comes from a rock shelter here in the hills around Vélez-Blanco. The Cueva de los Letreros, a few kilometres from this point, holds the original among other paintings of the Levantine and schematic styles, and the shelters of the Sierra de María are part of the World Heritage Site of Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula, inscribed in 1998. Santonje, as the area is called, is one of a cluster of sites in these mountains.
Read the complete Central E. de Santonje write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Central E. de Santonje sits at 205 km, about halfway. Next is back through Letreros de los mártires.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Letreros de los mártires write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Letreros de los mártires comes up about 306 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Abrigo del.melgar, 52 km on.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo del.melgar write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 398 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Abrigo del.melgar. Next is back through Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda, late in the day. Next is morciguilla de la Cepera.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete morciguilla de la Cepera write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 507 km.
morciguilla de la Cepera → Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda → Abrigo del.melgar is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo del.melgar → Letreros de los mártires is 92 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Letreros de los mártires → Central E. de Santonje is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Central E. de Santonje → back through Letreros de los mártires is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Letreros de los mártires → back through Abrigo del.melgar is 92 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Abrigo del.melgar → back through Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda → morciguilla de la Cepera is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.