Peñón de Santo Espíritu and Abrigo de Vicent

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Peñón de Santo Espíritu

   Behind the orange groves of the Camp de Morvedre, a few kilometres inland from Sagunto, the land rises into the Sierra Calderona, a low range of pine woods, scrub and red sandstone that separates the coastal plain from the dry interior. The Peñón de Santo Espíritu is a rocky outcrop in these hills above the village of Gilet, and it carries prehistoric rock art in the Levantine tradition, the style of painted hunters, animals and human figures found in shelters along the Mediterranean side of Spain and listed by UNESCO as the Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula. The paintings are fragile and often protected, so do not expect to wander up and touch anything.

   Read the complete Peñón de Santo Espíritu write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Peñón de Santo Espíritu is where the day begins. Next is Barranco de las Colochas- Abrigo I.

2. 2. Barranco de las Colochas- Abrigo I

   West of Valencia, the river Turia leaves the mountains through a series of deep gorges, and around the villages of Gestalgar, Sot de Chera and Chulilla, the landscape turns dramatic: limestone cliffs, pine-covered slopes and the river winding green below. In a side ravine near Gestalgar, the Barranco de las Colochas shelters a handful of painted panels that UNESCO counts among the Mediterranean rock art of Iberia. The figures are faint, but the setting is worth the effort on its own.

   Read the complete Barranco de las Colochas- Abrigo I write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Barranco de las Colochas- Abrigo I comes up about 79 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abrigo de Vicent.

3. 3. Abrigo de Vicent

   For most of its length, the Júcar river in Valencia province runs through gorges, reservoirs and dry hills, and in the days before roads, the way to bring timber from the mountains to the coast was to float it. The woodsmen who did this were called gancheros, after the long hooked poles they used to push logs through rapids, and for centuries they took pine trunks down the Júcar and the Cabriel in spring floods, riding the logs and breaking jams. That trade ended in the twentieth century, but their memory is kept alive in villages like Millares and Bicorp. The shelter named for a man, Abrigo de Vicent, lies about five and a half kilometres from Bicorp, and carries painting in the Levantine tradition, protected by UNESCO as part of the rock art of the Mediterranean basin in Spain.

   Read the complete Abrigo de Vicent write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 165 km into the recorded legs you reach Abrigo de Vicent. Next is back through Barranco de las Colochas- Abrigo I.

4. 4. back through Barranco de las Colochas- Abrigo I

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Barranco de las Colochas- Abrigo I write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Barranco de las Colochas- Abrigo I, late in the day. Next is Peñón de Santo Espíritu.

5. 5. Peñón de Santo Espíritu

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Peñón de Santo Espíritu write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Peñón de Santo Espíritu. That is the ride.