Torre de la iglesia de San Martín and Cerrada del Tío Jorge
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
235 km
Riding-time estimate
5 h 25
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.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 235 km round trip from Teruel - roughly 5 h 25 in the saddle. On the way it passes Abrigo de la Paridera de las Tajadas, Ceja de Piezarrodilla, Abrigo Contiguo a la Paridera de las Tajad and Cerrada del Tío Jorge. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,400 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Torre de la iglesia de San Martín
Teruel is a small provincial capital high on the Aragonese plateau, and its skyline is made of Mudéjar towers, built by Muslim craftsmen working for Christian patrons in brick and glazed ceramic tiles. The tower of San Martín, dating to the early fourteenth century, is one of the finest, a square tower straddling a street, so that traffic passes through an arch at its base. With the other Mudéjar towers of the city and the cathedral, it forms part of the World Heritage listing of Mudéjar Architecture of Aragon.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Torre de la iglesia de San Martín is where the day begins. Next is Abrigo de la Paridera de las Tajadas.
2. Abrigo de la Paridera de las Tajadas
Red sandstone is the first thing you notice. Between Albarracín, Bezas and Gea de Albarracín the ground turns the colour of rust, broken into towers, corridors and rounded boulders under a dense cover of maritime pine. This is the Pinares de Rodeno, a protected landscape in the Sierra de Albarracín, and its overhangs shelter some of the best-known Levantine rock paintings in Aragon, including pale and red bulls that seem far too large for the shallow hollows that hold them. The Abrigo de la Paridera de las Tajadas is one of these shelters, its name borrowed from the shepherds' pens, parideras, where ewes were brought to lamb under the rock.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abrigo de la Paridera de las Tajadas comes up about 27 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ceja de Piezarrodilla.
3. Ceja de Piezarrodilla
The Ceja de Piezarrodilla is a rock shelter in the mountains of southern Teruel, near the village of Villel and the Rincón de Ademuz, a curious enclave of the Valencian region surrounded by Aragon and Castilla-La Mancha. Its paintings, part of the Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin listing, include human figures and animals in the Levantine style, and they sit on the red sandstone that characterises this area. The landscape is rugged and dry, with pine forests, limestone cliffs and the valley of the Turia river, which flows south towards Valencia.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 61 km into the recorded legs you reach Ceja de Piezarrodilla. Next is Abrigo Contiguo a la Paridera de las Tajad.
4. Abrigo Contiguo a la Paridera de las Tajad
Albarracín is the town every Spaniard has a photograph of, and with good reason. Its pink-ochre walls climb a rocky spur above a bend in the Guadalaviar river, a medieval fortress-town whose streets are so narrow and steep that cars were long ago banished from the old quarter. Not far off, the Pinares de Rodeno, a forest of pines growing on red sandstone, hides dozens of shelters with prehistoric paintings, also on the World Heritage list. The paridera of the label is a shepherd's stone pen, a humble relic of a pastoral world that endured in these hills for centuries.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abrigo Contiguo a la Paridera de las Tajad, about halfway. Next is Cerrada del Tío Jorge.
5. Cerrada del Tío Jorge
A cerrada, in the dry uplands of Teruel and Cuenca, is a place where the land closes in: a narrow gorge, a pinch in the valley wall, the sort of spot where a shepherd could shut a flock in for the night and be done. Tío Jorge, Uncle George, is one of those anonymous local names that outlast any record of who he was.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 235 km.
Leg by leg
Torre de la iglesia de San Martín to Abrigo de la Paridera de las Tajadas
Torre de la iglesia de San Martín → Abrigo de la Paridera de las Tajadas is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo de la Paridera de las Tajadas to Ceja de Piezarrodilla
Abrigo de la Paridera de las Tajadas → Ceja de Piezarrodilla is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ceja de Piezarrodilla to Abrigo Contiguo a la Paridera de las Tajad
Ceja de Piezarrodilla → Abrigo Contiguo a la Paridera de las Tajad is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo Contiguo a la Paridera de las Tajad to Cerrada del Tío Jorge
Abrigo Contiguo a la Paridera de las Tajad → Cerrada del Tío Jorge is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cerrada del Tío Jorge to back through Abrigo Contiguo a la Paridera de las Tajad
Cerrada del Tío Jorge → back through Abrigo Contiguo a la Paridera de las Tajad is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abrigo Contiguo a la Paridera de las Tajad to back through Ceja de Piezarrodilla
back through Abrigo Contiguo a la Paridera de las Tajad → back through Ceja de Piezarrodilla is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ceja de Piezarrodilla to back through Abrigo de la Paridera de las Tajadas
back through Ceja de Piezarrodilla → back through Abrigo de la Paridera de las Tajadas is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abrigo de la Paridera de las Tajadas to Torre de la iglesia de San Martín
back through Abrigo de la Paridera de las Tajadas → Torre de la iglesia de San Martín is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.