Val del Charco del Agua Amarga and La Covassa del molinell
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
390 km
Riding-time estimate
7 h 41
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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 Alcañiz it runs 390 km to Alcañiz; allow about 7 h 41 of riding. The stops in between: Abric de la Tenalla, La Covassa del molinell and back through Abric de la Tenalla. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,050 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Val del Charco del Agua Amarga
Around ten kilometres from Alcañiz, in a dry ravine among olive groves and limestone ledges, a rock shelter holds one of the most celebrated scenes of Levantine rock art in Spain. The paintings at Val del Charco del Agua Amarga show archers in motion, hunting and perhaps fighting, their thin bodies drawn with a few confident strokes in red. Many experts consider it one of the finest examples in the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean rock art, and seeing it, even protected behind a fence, gives a real jolt of connection to people who lived here several thousand years ago.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Val del Charco del Agua Amarga is where the day begins. Next is Abric de la Tenalla.
2. Abric de la Tenalla
The Tinença de Benifassà is one of the wildest corners of the Valencian region, a cluster of tiny villages in the mountains where Valencia, Catalonia and Aragon meet, and the Abric de la Tenalla lies on its southeastern edge, near Rosell. It is one of the many rock shelters in this area with prehistoric paintings, part of the UNESCO-listed rock art of the Mediterranean Basin, and the nearby Serra de Godall and the Ulldecona shelters to the east are among the most important sites in Catalonia. The landscape is dramatic: limestone cliffs, deep gorges, pine and holm oak forests, and abandoned terraces where shepherds once grazed their flocks.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abric de la Tenalla comes up 61 km in. Next is La Covassa del molinell.
3. La Covassa del molinell
Benassal and Culla are mountain villages in the Alt Maestrat, in the interior of the province of Castelló, a region of limestone plateaus, deep gorges and stone walls that feels a world away from the beaches of the coast. La Covassa del Molinell, a large rock shelter near Benassal, is one of many in the Maestrat with prehistoric paintings. The region is one of the richest areas for Levantine rock art, with the famous shelters of the Valltorta gorge, near Tírig, just to the east.