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CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE

Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés and Corral de la Gascona

Plan this ride

Recorded distance
467 km
Riding-time estimate
8 h 31
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis

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.

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Why this ride

467 km from Aspa to Aspa, about 8 h 31 of riding. On the way it passes Abric del Barranc de Sant Jaume, Mallata C, El Remosillo and Corral de la Gascona. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,050 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

  1. 1. Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés

    South of Lleida the irrigated orchards give way abruptly to dry, open steppe, and the little village of Alfés sits on the edge of that change. The Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés are rock paintings in a small sandstone shelter near the village, schematic designs in red pigment, mostly abstract lines, dots and simplified figures, that belong to the later, more symbolic phase of prehistoric art in eastern Spain, and they are included in the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean Basin rock art. They are modest to look at, but there is something powerful about seeing marks left by people thousands of years ago in such an open, wind-swept place.

    Read the complete Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés is where the day begins. Next is Abric del Barranc de Sant Jaume.

  2. 2. Abric del Barranc de Sant Jaume

    Mequinenza had to move. In the 1960s and 1970s, two dams built on the Ebro created a huge reservoir known as the Mar de Aragón, and the old town at the meeting of the Ebro and the Segre was abandoned and largely demolished, its people resettled in a new town above. The story is told in the town's museums and in the novels of Jesús Moncada, who grew up in the old Mequinenza. In a ravine nearby, the Abric del Barranc de Sant Jaume holds prehistoric paintings, part of the World Heritage Site of Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin.

    Read the complete Abric del Barranc de Sant Jaume write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    Abric del Barranc de Sant Jaume comes up about 49 km into the recorded legs. Next is Mallata C.

  3. 3. Mallata C

    Ontiñena is a small farming village on the Alcanadre river, at the edge of the Monegros, the dry, wind-scoured steppe of central Aragón. Out in the ravines around it, prehistoric people left painted figures in rock shelters, among them the site labelled Mallata C, one of the many small components of the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean rock art. The paintings are small, simple and best seen with a local guide, and the walk there crosses a landscape that seems built for epic films: gypsum hills, eroded gullies and wide skies.

    Read the complete Mallata C write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    about 105 km into the recorded legs you reach Mallata C. Next is El Remosillo.

  4. 4. El Remosillo

    If you ride north from Barbastro toward Graus, the Ésera river eventually forces its way through a ridge of limestone, and the result is the Congosto de Olvena, a short, deep gorge with the road squeezed between rock and water. Up on the cliffs around here are rock shelters with prehistoric paintings, and El Remosillo is one of the best known in this corner of Aragón, between Estadilla, Graus and Fonz.

    Read the complete El Remosillo write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    El Remosillo, about halfway. Next is Corral de la Gascona.

  5. 5. Corral de la Gascona

    Alquézar is one of the most dramatic villages in Spain: a cluster of ochre houses piled on a rocky spur above the canyon of the Vero river, crowned by a castle and a collegiate church built on the site of a Moorish fortress. It lies at the southern edge of the Sierra de Guara, a limestone range in Aragon cut by deep canyons, and the area is famous across Europe for canyoning, with people abseiling, jumping and swimming through the narrow gorges in summer. The Corral de la Gascona is one of the rock-art sites in the Vero canyon and its surroundings, part of the UNESCO-listed rock art of the Mediterranean Basin.

    Read the complete Corral de la Gascona write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    Corral de la Gascona sits at 194 km, about halfway. Next is back through El Remosillo.

  6. 6. back through El Remosillo

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete El Remosillo write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    back through El Remosillo comes up about 285 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Mallata C.

  7. 7. back through Mallata C

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Mallata C write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    about 353 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Mallata C. Next is back through Abric del Barranc de Sant Jaume.

  8. 8. back through Abric del Barranc de Sant Jaume

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Abric del Barranc de Sant Jaume write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    back through Abric del Barranc de Sant Jaume, late in the day. Next is Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés.

  9. 9. Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    The route ends here after 467 km.

Leg by leg

Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés to Abric del Barranc de Sant Jaume

Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés → Abric del Barranc de Sant Jaume is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Abric del Barranc de Sant Jaume to Mallata C

Abric del Barranc de Sant Jaume → Mallata C is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Mallata C to El Remosillo

Mallata C → El Remosillo is 74 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.

El Remosillo to Corral de la Gascona

El Remosillo → Corral de la Gascona is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Corral de la Gascona to back through El Remosillo

Corral de la Gascona → back through El Remosillo is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through El Remosillo to back through Mallata C

back through El Remosillo → back through Mallata C is 68 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.

back through Mallata C to back through Abric del Barranc de Sant Jaume

back through Mallata C → back through Abric del Barranc de Sant Jaume is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Abric del Barranc de Sant Jaume to Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés

back through Abric del Barranc de Sant Jaume → Pintures Rupestres d'Alfés is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

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