Why this ride
From Villajoyosa it runs 376 km to Villajoyosa; allow about 6 h 56 of riding. It goes by way of Barranc del Sord-Abric I, Barranc de les Coves- Abric I, Barranc de les Covatelles and Pinós. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Tabla de Pochico and Pinós
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 376 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 56
- 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. Tabla de Pochico
Villajoyosa, the Vila, is one of those towns that makes a bad first impression only on the way in. The approach is lined with apartment blocks, but the old seafront is a long row of houses painted in bright colours, ochre, pink, blue and green, said to have helped fishermen find their own door from the sea. Behind the harbour the church stands fortress-like, built with walls designed to withstand pirate raids, and the whole place smells faintly of the sea and, oddly, of chocolate, because the town is home to one of Spain's best known chocolate makers, founded in the nineteenth century. The Tabla de Pochico lies in the hills a few kilometres inland, in the scrubby, rocky land that rises behind the coast.
Read the complete Tabla de Pochico write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tabla de Pochico is where the day begins. Next is Barranc del Sord-Abric I.
2. Barranc del Sord-Abric I
Aitana is the mountain you can see from nearly everywhere in this part of Alicante, and at 1,558 metres it is the highest in the province. The village of Benimantell sits in its shadow, a tiny place of fewer than five hundred people with white houses and a view that ends in blue haze. The shelter named here, Barranc del Sord, belongs to the Tabla de Pochico group, a scatter of Levantine paintings in the hills of the Marina Baixa that form part of the UNESCO-listed rock art of the Mediterranean Basin.
Read the complete Barranc del Sord-Abric I write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Barranc del Sord-Abric I comes up about 49 km into the recorded legs. Next is Barranc de les Coves- Abric I.
3. Barranc de les Coves- Abric I
Ibi is the toy capital of Spain, a fact that surprises everyone who rides through this mountain town in the hills of Alicante. Since the early twentieth century, workshops here have produced dolls, tin toys and plastic figures, and the Valencian Toy Museum tells the story. The rock shelter named Barranc de les Coves Abric I lies in the hills between Ibi and Alcoy, in a ravine whose name simply means the gully of the caves.
Read the complete Barranc de les Coves- Abric I write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 92 km into the recorded legs you reach Barranc de les Coves- Abric I. Next is Barranc de les Covatelles.
4. Barranc de les Covatelles
Guadalest is a tiny village on a rock, entered through a tunnel cut in the stone, with a castle, a bell tower perched on a pinnacle and a view over a turquoise reservoir below. It is one of the most visited places in the province of Alicante, and it sits at the heart of a valley surrounded by mountains: the Aitana, the highest in the province at over fifteen hundred metres, the Serrella and the Xortà. The Barranc de les Covatelles is one of the ravines in this mountainous country, near Benimantell, Sella and Castell de Castells, with rock shelters that hold prehistoric paintings, one component of the World Heritage inscription for the rock art of the Mediterranean Basin.
Read the complete Barranc de les Covatelles write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Barranc de les Covatelles, about halfway. Next is Pinós.
5. Pinós
Inland from the busy coast of the Marina Alta, behind Benissa and Calp, the land folds into a series of steep, terraced valleys where almond and olive trees cling to dry-stone walls and white farmhouses sit among the pines. Pinós is a rural area in the hills near Benissa, Senija and Jalón, and the rides link it to the rock-art shelters of the barrancs, the ravines that cut through the limestone of this region, part of the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean prehistoric art. The exact contents of the nearby shelters are for specialists, but the landscape itself has a quiet, timeless beauty, especially in the soft light of late afternoon.
Read the complete Pinós write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Pinós sits at 143 km, about halfway. Next is back through Barranc de les Covatelles.
6. back through Barranc de les Covatelles
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Barranc de les Covatelles write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Barranc de les Covatelles comes up about 249 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Barranc de les Coves- Abric I.
7. back through Barranc de les Coves- Abric I
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Barranc de les Coves- Abric I write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 285 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Barranc de les Coves- Abric I. Next is back through Barranc del Sord-Abric I.
8. back through Barranc del Sord-Abric I
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Barranc del Sord-Abric I write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Barranc del Sord-Abric I, late in the day. Next is Tabla de Pochico.
9. Tabla de Pochico
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tabla de Pochico write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 376 km.
Leg by leg
Tabla de Pochico to Barranc del Sord-Abric I
Tabla de Pochico → Barranc del Sord-Abric I is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Barranc del Sord-Abric I to Barranc de les Coves- Abric I
Barranc del Sord-Abric I → Barranc de les Coves- Abric I is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Barranc de les Coves- Abric I to Barranc de les Covatelles
Barranc de les Coves- Abric I → Barranc de les Covatelles is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Barranc de les Covatelles to Pinós
Barranc de les Covatelles → Pinós is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pinós to back through Barranc de les Covatelles
Pinós → back through Barranc de les Covatelles is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Barranc de les Covatelles to back through Barranc de les Coves- Abric I
back through Barranc de les Covatelles → back through Barranc de les Coves- Abric I is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Barranc de les Coves- Abric I to back through Barranc del Sord-Abric I
back through Barranc de les Coves- Abric I → back through Barranc del Sord-Abric I is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Barranc del Sord-Abric I to Tabla de Pochico
back through Barranc del Sord-Abric I → Tabla de Pochico is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
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