Why this ride
A 173 km round trip from Juneda - roughly 3 h 26 in the saddle. On the way it passes La Roca dels moros, Abric del Barranc de Sant Jaume and back through La Roca dels moros. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Roques Guàrdies II and Abric del Barranc de Sant Jaume
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 173 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 26
- 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Roques Guàrdies II
Les Garrigues is the dry, stony corner of western Catalonia, south-east of Lleida, a land of low hills, terraced olive groves, almond trees and stone huts, where the light is hard and the summers are hot. Roques Guàrdies II is a rock shelter in these hills near Juneda and Arbeca, with traces of prehistoric paintings in the Levantine style, part of the World Heritage site of rock art in the Mediterranean Basin of the Iberian Peninsula.
Read the complete Roques Guàrdies II write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Roques Guàrdies II is where the day begins. Next is La Roca dels moros.
2. La Roca dels moros
El Cogul is a village of a few dozen houses in Les Garrigues, the low, stony plateau of western Catalonia where the whole landscape seems to be one big olive grove. Just outside it, a wall of rock above a small valley holds one of the most important prehistoric paintings in the country. The shelter is known as the Roca dels Moros, the Moors' Rock, which is simply the Catalan habit of attributing anything old and mysterious to the Moors, and it was brought to scientific attention in the early twentieth century by a local priest.
Read the complete La Roca dels moros write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
La Roca dels moros comes up about 40 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abric del Barranc de Sant Jaume.
3. 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
about 93 km into the recorded legs you reach Abric del Barranc de Sant Jaume. Next is back through La Roca dels moros.
4. back through La Roca dels moros
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete La Roca dels moros write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through La Roca dels moros, late in the day. Next is Roques Guàrdies II.
5. Roques Guàrdies II
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Roques Guàrdies II write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Roques Guàrdies II. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Roques Guàrdies II to La Roca dels moros
Roques Guàrdies II → La Roca dels moros is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
La Roca dels moros to Abric del Barranc de Sant Jaume
La Roca dels moros → Abric del Barranc de Sant Jaume is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abric del Barranc de Sant Jaume to back through La Roca dels moros
Abric del Barranc de Sant Jaume → back through La Roca dels moros is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through La Roca dels moros to Roques Guàrdies II
back through La Roca dels moros → Roques Guàrdies II is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.