Sierra de los Rincones I and Abric d'Ermites VI

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Sierra de los Rincones I

   Aragon and Catalonia meet along the Segre and Ebro here, and the map is full of names that mean corners and nooks. The Sierra de los Rincones is a low range of dry, rocky hills above the confluence of the Segre, Cinca and Ebro rivers, with scrub of juniper, thyme and pine and a lot of bare ground, in a region that gets less than 400 millimetres of rain a year. The great reservoir of Mequinenza, the Mar de Aragón, lies to the south, and from the high ground the view takes in water, hills and a haze of dust. The Ebro here is more than a river, it is a reservoir, with the valley flooded and the old towns beneath the water.

   Read the complete Sierra de los Rincones I write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Sierra de los Rincones I is where the day begins. Next is Cueva de mas del Abogat.

2. 2. Cueva de mas del Abogat

   Calaceite is the kind of village that makes you slow down without being asked: honey-coloured stone, arcaded squares, a big baroque church and grand old houses with carved doorways, all perched on a ridge in the Matarraña, the corner of Teruel where Aragón meets Catalonia and Valencia. A few kilometres from it lies the Cueva de Mas del Abogat, one of the painted rock shelters that belong to the UNESCO listing of prehistoric art in the Mediterranean Basin of the Iberian Peninsula. As with its sisters across eastern Spain, the paintings are small and often hard to read; the setting is what you take away.

   Read the complete Cueva de mas del Abogat write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Cueva de mas del Abogat comes up about 78 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abric d'Ermites VI.

3. 3. Abric d'Ermites VI

   Ulldecona sits at the foot of the Serra de Godall, in the southern tip of Catalonia, close to the border with Valencia and a short distance from the Ebro delta. The town is an old one, set among olive groves that produce a good oil, and above it stands the hermitage of La Pietat, with long views to the sea. The Abric d'Ermites VI is one of the rock shelters of the Ermites group, painted in the Levantine style with small red figures of hunters, and part of the Mediterranean Basin rock art inscribed by UNESCO in 1998. The shelters lie in the cliffs of the Godall range, and access is by foot with regulations to protect the paintings.

   Read the complete Abric d'Ermites VI write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 163 km into the recorded legs you reach Abric d'Ermites VI. Next is back through Cueva de mas del Abogat.

4. 4. back through Cueva de mas del Abogat

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Cueva de mas del Abogat write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Cueva de mas del Abogat, late in the day. Next is Sierra de los Rincones I.

5. 5. Sierra de los Rincones I

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Sierra de los Rincones I write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Sierra de los Rincones I. That is the ride.