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.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
377 km from Jalance to Jalance, about 8 h 59 of riding. It goes by way of Abric de Tollos I o de la fuente Seca, Barranco del Cabezo del moro, Abric de Gontrán and back through Barranco del Cabezo del moro. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Peñon de los machos
Cofrentes is a village at the confluence of two rivers, the Júcar and the Cabriel, in the interior of Valencia province, and it has a curious mix of attractions. Above it stands a castle on a crag. Nearby rises the Cerro de Agrás, the only recently active volcano in the Valencian Community, a dark cone of basalt in a landscape of limestone. And just outside the village, the cooling towers of the Cofrentes nuclear power station send plumes of steam into the sky. The Peñón de los Machos, a rocky outcrop with painted shelters, lies in the hills between Cofrentes, Jalance and Jarafuel.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Peñon de los machos is where the day begins. Next is Abric de Tollos I o de la fuente Seca.
2. Abric de Tollos I o de la fuente Seca
This is the country of the honey-gatherer. Not far from here, in a cave near Bicorp, one of the best-known Levantine paintings shows a tiny figure climbing a rope ladder to a wild bees' nest high in a cliff, with bees swarming around him. It is thousands of years old, and it is a reminder that the artists who painted these shelters were also men and women who took honey from the rock, followed deer through the scrub and watched the weather. The Abric de Tollos belongs to the same family of shelters in the hills of inland Valencia, part of the Levantine rock art listed by UNESCO.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abric de Tollos I o de la fuente Seca comes up about 37 km into the recorded legs. Next is Barranco del Cabezo del moro.
3. Barranco del Cabezo del moro
Almansa is one of those towns you see from the motorway and do not stop at, and that is a mistake. Its castle is spectacular, a Gothic fortress built on a sharp limestone outcrop right in the middle of town, looking exactly like a child's drawing of a castle. Around it spreads a wide plain at about seven hundred metres, the meeting point of the Valencian, Murcian and Castilian lands, and a few kilometres out in the surrounding hills lies the ravine known as the Barranco del Cabezo del Moro.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 133 km into the recorded legs you reach Barranco del Cabezo del moro. Next is Abric de Gontrán.
4. Abric de Gontrán
Head south-west from Xàtiva along the old road to Castile and you climb gently into a corridor between two mountain ranges, the Serra Grossa on one side and the Serra de Enguera on the other. The town of Moixent sits where the corridor narrows, with Vallada just downstream and the vineyards of Fontanars dels Alforins on the plateau beyond. The Abric de Gontran lies in the hills just outside Moixent.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Peñon de los machos closes the day.
Leg by leg
Peñon de los machos to Abric de Tollos I o de la fuente Seca
Peñon de los machos → Abric de Tollos I o de la fuente Seca is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abric de Tollos I o de la fuente Seca to Barranco del Cabezo del moro
Abric de Tollos I o de la fuente Seca → Barranco del Cabezo del moro is 96 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Barranco del Cabezo del moro to Abric de Gontrán
Barranco del Cabezo del moro → Abric de Gontrán is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abric de Gontrán to back through Barranco del Cabezo del moro
Abric de Gontrán → back through Barranco del Cabezo del moro is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Barranco del Cabezo del moro to back through Abric de Tollos I o de la fuente Seca
back through Barranco del Cabezo del moro → back through Abric de Tollos I o de la fuente Seca is 102 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abric de Tollos I o de la fuente Seca to Peñon de los machos
back through Abric de Tollos I o de la fuente Seca → Peñon de los machos is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.