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.
From Úbeda it runs 616 km to Úbeda; allow about 13 h 28 of riding. The stops in between: Abrigo del.melgar, Cañada de la Cruz, Abrigo de la fuente de montañoz I and Fuensanta II. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,400 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
In the middle of an ocean of olive trees, Úbeda rises on a ridge like a Renaissance city that took a wrong turn on its way to Florence. This town in the province of Jaén, along with its neighbour Baeza, was listed by UNESCO in 2003 for its sixteenth-century architecture, much of it the work of Andrés de Vandelvira, who built palaces, churches and chapels for wealthy noble families and royal officials. The Plaza Vázquez de Molina is the showpiece, a harmonious square lined with palaces and the extraordinary Sacra Capilla del Salvador, a funerary chapel built for Francisco de los Cobos, secretary to Emperor Charles V.
Read the complete Úbeda write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Úbeda is where the day begins. Next is Abrigo del.melgar, 44 km on.
Quesada is a white town at the foot of the Sierra de Cazorla, in the province of Jaén, surrounded by an ocean of olive trees. The groves stretch to the horizon in every direction, a landscape that makes Jaén the world's largest producer of olive oil. Behind the town, the mountains rise steeply, with pine forest and limestone cliffs, and the Guadalquivir river has its source not far away. The Abrigo del Melgar lies in the hills just outside the town.
Read the complete Abrigo del.melgar write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo del.melgar comes up about 47 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cañada de la Cruz.
The Cañada de la Cruz is a high valley or drovers' pasture in the Segura mountains; cañada is the word for the traditional livestock routes and grazing grounds used by shepherds moving their flocks between summer and winter pastures, and this part of Spain has a long history of transhumance.
Read the complete Cañada de la Cruz write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 192 km into the recorded legs you reach Cañada de la Cruz. Next is Abrigo de la fuente de montañoz I.
Nerpio is about as far from anywhere as you can get in mainland Spain. The village sits in the southwestern corner of Albacete province, where Castilla-La Mancha meets Andalusia and Murcia, in the mountains of the Sierra de Segura, at the end of long, winding roads. It is known for its walnut trees, which line the valleys and give the village its pride, and for its rock art: the hills around are full of shelters with prehistoric paintings, and Nerpio is one of the most important centres for Levantine art in Spain. The Abrigo de la Fuente de Montañoz is one of these shelters, near a spring in the hills above the Taibilla river.
Read the complete Abrigo de la fuente de montañoz I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo de la fuente de montañoz I, about halfway. Next is Fuensanta II.
Fuensanta II is the sort of name only an archaeologist could love, a numbered rock shelter in the hills of northwest Murcia where prehistoric painters left a handful of figures on the stone. It is one of the hundreds of sites grouped under UNESCO's listing of rock art in the Mediterranean Basin of the Iberian Peninsula, and the Moratalla area is unusually rich in them. The paintings are small, faint to the untrained eye and protected, so the real value of coming is to understand the landscape that drew people here thousands of years ago: springs, shelter and game in rough, broken country.
Read the complete Fuensanta II write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fuensanta II sits at 176 km, about halfway. Next is back through Abrigo de la fuente de montañoz I.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo de la fuente de montañoz I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Abrigo de la fuente de montañoz I comes up about 351 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Cañada de la Cruz.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cañada de la Cruz write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 420 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Cañada de la Cruz. Next is back through Abrigo del.melgar, 44 km on.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo del.melgar write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Abrigo del.melgar, late in the day. Next is Úbeda.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Úbeda write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 616 km.
Úbeda → Abrigo del.melgar is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo del.melgar → Cañada de la Cruz is 145 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cañada de la Cruz → Abrigo de la fuente de montañoz I is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo de la fuente de montañoz I → Fuensanta II is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fuensanta II → back through Abrigo de la fuente de montañoz I is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abrigo de la fuente de montañoz I → back through Cañada de la Cruz is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cañada de la Cruz → back through Abrigo del.melgar is 128 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abrigo del.melgar → Úbeda is 67 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.