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.
From María it runs 288 km to María; allow about 8 h 45 of riding. On the way it passes Central E. de Santonje, Abrigo de la Esperilla, Cueva de la Plata and back through Abrigo de la Esperilla. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,300 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
The far north of Almería surprises people who think the province is all desert and greenhouses. Up here, around the villages of María and Vélez-Blanco, you are in the Sierra de María-Los Vélez natural park, a range of limestone mountains covered with pine and holm oak, with snow in winter and cool nights even in August. The site recorded on the map simply as Queso sits in the hills south of María, among the cluster of prehistoric shelters for which this corner of Andalusia is known.
Read the complete Queso write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Queso is where the day begins. Next is Central E. de Santonje, 33 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 comes up about 22 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abrigo de la Esperilla.
Almería is known for its beaches and desert, but the north of the province holds a different landscape: high, dry limestone mountains with pine forests, almond groves and a series of rock shelters where prehistoric people painted. The Sierra de María-Los Vélez rises above two thousand metres, and around the town of Vélez-Blanco several shelters preserve paintings of the Levantine style, with small, lively red figures of hunters, animals and humans. UNESCO lists Spain's Levantine rock art as a World Heritage Site, and the Abrigo de la Esperilla is one of those painted places.
Read the complete Abrigo de la Esperilla write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 80 km into the recorded legs you reach Abrigo de la Esperilla. Next is Cueva de la Plata.
Aledo is a tiny village on a rocky spur in the hills of Murcia, a place that punches well above its weight in history. In the eleventh century, it was a fortress on the frontier between Christian Castile and the Muslim taifa kingdoms, and the siege of Aledo in 1088 was a major episode in the struggle for the peninsula. A tower still stands above the village. The Cueva de la Plata, the silver cave, lies in the hills nearby, between Aledo, Totana and Alhama de Murcia.
Read the complete Cueva de la Plata write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cueva de la Plata, about halfway. Next is back through Abrigo de la Esperilla.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo de la Esperilla write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Abrigo de la Esperilla sits at 131 km, about halfway. Next is back through Central E. de Santonje, 32 km on.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Central E. de Santonje write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Central E. de Santonje comes up about 264 km into the recorded legs. Next is Queso.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Queso write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Queso closes the day.
Queso → Central E. de Santonje is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Central E. de Santonje → Abrigo de la Esperilla is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo de la Esperilla → Cueva de la Plata is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cueva de la Plata → back through Abrigo de la Esperilla is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abrigo de la Esperilla → back through Central E. de Santonje is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Central E. de Santonje → Queso is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.