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.
405 km from Mequinensa / Mequinenza to Mequinensa / Mequinenza, about 8 h 14 of riding. The stops in between: Mallata C, Les Coves, Cova del Tabac and back through Les Coves. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Sierra de los Rincones I is where the day begins. Next is Mallata C.
Ontiñena is a small farming village on the Alcanadre river, at the edge of the Monegros, the dry, wind-scoured steppe of central Aragón. Out in the ravines around it, prehistoric people left painted figures in rock shelters, among them the site labelled Mallata C, one of the many small components of the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean rock art. The paintings are small, simple and best seen with a local guide, and the walk there crosses a landscape that seems built for epic films: gypsum hills, eroded gullies and wide skies.
Read the complete Mallata C write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Mallata C comes up about 59 km into the recorded legs. Next is Les Coves.
The western edge of Catalonia, around Lleida, is fruit country. Irrigation canals bring water from the Pyrenean rivers to a broad, flat plain of orchards growing apples, pears and peaches, laid out in neat lines that stretch to the horizon. Les Coves lies in this area, close to the Aragonese border, between Alfarràs, Albelda and Algerri, where the valley of the Noguera Ribagorçana spills out of the hills and onto the plain.
Read the complete Les Coves write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 136 km into the recorded legs you reach Les Coves. Next is Cova del Tabac.
Above the village of Camarasa, where the Segre comes out of the pre-Pyrenean hills onto the plain of Lleida, a cave in the limestone holds some of the most interesting rock paintings in Catalonia. The Cova del Tabac, the tobacco cave, is a wide shelter with schematic paintings, simplified human figures, animals and symbols in red, and it is one of the sites included in the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean rock art on the Iberian Peninsula. A short walk leads up from the road to the shelter, which also offers a fine view over the valley, and on a clear day the Pyrenees rise white on the northern horizon.
Read the complete Cova del Tabac write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cova del Tabac, about halfway. Next is back through Les Coves.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Les Coves write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Les Coves sits at 195 km, about halfway. Next is back through Mallata C.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mallata C write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Mallata C comes up about 337 km into the recorded legs. Next is Sierra de los Rincones I.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sierra de los Rincones I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Sierra de los Rincones I closes the day.
Sierra de los Rincones I → Mallata C is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mallata C → Les Coves is 77 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Les Coves → Cova del Tabac is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cova del Tabac → back through Les Coves is 70 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Les Coves → back through Mallata C is 70 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Mallata C → Sierra de los Rincones I is 68 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.