CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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 Úbeda it runs 571 km to Úbeda; allow about 10 h 36 of riding. The stops in between: Cueva de Apolinario, La Alamedilla and back through Cueva de Apolinario. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 800 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Úbeda stands on a ridge above an ocean of olive trees. In every direction, the province of Jaén rolls away in silver-green rows, millions of trees planted in geometric lines up to the horizon, and on this sea floats a town of honey-coloured stone that looks as if it had been lifted from Florence. In the sixteenth century, powerful local families who served the Spanish crown, above all Francisco de los Cobos, secretary to Emperor Charles V, poured their wealth into palaces and churches here, and the architect Andrés de Vandelvira gave them a Renaissance style of rare purity. Úbeda and its smaller neighbour Baeza were inscribed together on the UNESCO list in 2003.
Read the complete Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda is where the day begins. Next is Cueva de Apolinario.
Sierra Morena is the long, dark range that separates the plains of La Mancha from the valley of the Guadalquivir, and the high-road gateway between them is the gorge of Despeñaperros, a few kilometres to the east of Aldeaquemada. The name means something like the pass where dogs are thrown off the cliff, which tells you how the Castilians felt about it. The Cueva de Apolinario is a rock shelter in these hills, and belongs to the painted shelters of the Sierra Morena, with figures that experts date back several thousand years. The area also holds the rock art of the Mediterranean Basin, as protected by UNESCO.
Read the complete Cueva de Apolinario write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cueva de Apolinario comes up 75 km in. Next is La Alamedilla.
Nobody lives close to this point, and that is its main fact. It lies in the eastern Sierra Morena, in the wild border country between Córdoba and Jaén, where holm oak and cork oak cover steep, empty hills and the nearest villages, Mestanza, Baños de la Encina and Cardeña, are all more than twenty-five kilometres away. The ride titles link it with the mercury mines of Almadén, whose Royal Forced Labour Gaol and miners' hospital are part of a UNESCO listing shared with Idrija in Slovenia, but Almadén lies far to the north-west, and the connection is a routing choice rather than a neighbourhood.
Read the complete La Alamedilla write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
150 km in you reach La Alamedilla. Next is back through Cueva de Apolinario.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cueva de Apolinario write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Cueva de Apolinario, late in the day. Next is Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda. That is the ride.
Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda → Cueva de Apolinario is 70 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Cueva de Apolinario → La Alamedilla is 79 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
La Alamedilla → back through Cueva de Apolinario is 79 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Cueva de Apolinario → Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda is 70 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.