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.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 290 km round trip from Castell de Castells - roughly 5 h 01 in the saddle. On the way it passes Pinós, Coves Santes de Dalt, Abric de Lambert and back through Coves Santes de Dalt. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Pla de Petracos is one of the most important prehistoric art sites in Spain, and it looks like nothing much: a row of shallow shelters in the side of a ravine near Castell de Castells, in the high interior of the Marina Alta. What makes it special is the style. The paintings here are among the clearest examples of what archaeologists call Macroschematic art, large, bold, almost abstract human figures with raised arms and serpentine forms, painted by the first farming communities of the region in the early Neolithic. Elsewhere in the Valencian mountains you find Levantine hunting scenes; here you find something stranger and more symbolic. A short path and viewing platforms make the panels accessible, and the information boards help you see what the eye misses at first.
Read the complete Pla de Petracos- Abric I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Pla de Petracos- Abric I is where the day begins. Next is Pinós.
Inland from the busy coast of the Marina Alta, behind Benissa and Calp, the land folds into a series of steep, terraced valleys where almond and olive trees cling to dry-stone walls and white farmhouses sit among the pines. Pinós is a rural area in the hills near Benissa, Senija and Jalón, and the rides link it to the rock-art shelters of the barrancs, the ravines that cut through the limestone of this region, part of the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean prehistoric art. The exact contents of the nearby shelters are for specialists, but the landscape itself has a quiet, timeless beauty, especially in the soft light of late afternoon.
Read the complete Pinós write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Pinós comes up about 27 km into the recorded legs. Next is Coves Santes de Dalt.
The Montgó is the great limestone hulk that rises between Dénia and Jávea on the Costa Blanca, a mountain that looks like a sleeping elephant from some angles and dominates every view along this stretch of coast. On its flanks, in shelters and small caves, are prehistoric paintings, and the Coves Santes de Dalt, the upper holy caves, are among the sites in the area recorded as part of the UNESCO Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin. The paintings here are mostly schematic, simpler and more abstract than the hunting scenes found inland, and the shelters are protected, so viewing usually needs a guided visit.
Read the complete Coves Santes de Dalt write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 63 km into the recorded legs you reach Coves Santes de Dalt. Next is Abric de Lambert.
Cullera is not where most people would look for prehistory. It is a busy beach town at the mouth of the Júcar, with high-rise apartments along the sand, a lighthouse on the point and rice fields stretching inland toward the Albufera lagoon. But the town has a mountain at its back, a limestone outcrop crowned by a castle and a sanctuary, and in that rock there are shelters, including the one known as the Abric de Lambert.
Read the complete Abric de Lambert write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abric de Lambert, about halfway. Next is back through Coves Santes de Dalt.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Coves Santes de Dalt write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Coves Santes de Dalt sits at 172 km, about halfway. Next is back through Pinós.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Pinós write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Pinós comes up about 256 km into the recorded legs. Next is Pla de Petracos- Abric I.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Pla de Petracos- Abric I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Pla de Petracos- Abric I closes the day.
Pla de Petracos- Abric I → Pinós is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pinós → Coves Santes de Dalt is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Coves Santes de Dalt → Abric de Lambert is 81 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Abric de Lambert → back through Coves Santes de Dalt is 83 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Coves Santes de Dalt → back through Pinós is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Pinós → Pla de Petracos- Abric I is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.