Why this ride
A 171 km round trip from Mequinensa / Mequinenza - roughly 2 h 50 in the saddle. It goes by way of Val de Caballé I, mas de Torres and back through Val de Caballé I.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Vallbufandes I and mas de Torres
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 171 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 50
- 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Vallbufandes I
Mequinenza sits where three rivers meet. The Segre and the Cinca flow into the Ebro here, and the town has lived by them for centuries, first as a river port and a fortress with a Gothic castle, then as a coal-mining town, with lignite dug from the hills and shipped by barge. In the 1960s, the Ebro was dammed downstream and a huge reservoir, now known as the Mar de Aragón, flooded the valley and swallowed much of the old town. Its people moved to a new town above the water, and the old streets lie under it. It is a poignant story, and locals have not forgotten it.
Read the complete Vallbufandes I write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Vallbufandes I is where the day begins. Next is Val de Caballé I.
2. Val de Caballé I
Here the Ebro stops being a river and becomes a lake. Behind the great dams at Mequinenza and Riba-roja, the water backs up for kilometres into the dry hills of eastern Aragon, and locals call the reservoir the Mar de Aragón, the sea of Aragon. Val de Caballé is a gully in the hills south of the water, between Mequinenza, Nonaspe and Fabara, part of a scatter of prehistoric rock shelters in this corner where Aragon, Catalonia and the Matarranya meet.
Read the complete Val de Caballé I write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Val de Caballé I comes up 18 km in. Next is mas de Torres.
3. mas de Torres
The Monegros in high summer is the closest thing Europe has to a desert, a wide, dry plateau of gypsum hills, wheat stubble and steppe scrub under a hard, white sky. Near the village of Candasnos, close to the main road between Zaragoza and Lleida, the shelter labelled Mas de Torres is one of the rock art sites of the Mediterranean Basin listed by UNESCO, a reminder that people lived and hunted here long before the land dried out to its present state.
Read the complete mas de Torres write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
37 km in you reach mas de Torres. Next is back through Val de Caballé I.
4. back through Val de Caballé I
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Val de Caballé I write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Val de Caballé I, late in the day. Next is Vallbufandes I.
5. Vallbufandes I
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Vallbufandes I write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Vallbufandes I. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Vallbufandes I to Val de Caballé I
Vallbufandes I → Val de Caballé I is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Val de Caballé I to mas de Torres
Val de Caballé I → mas de Torres is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
mas de Torres to back through Val de Caballé I
mas de Torres → back through Val de Caballé I is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Val de Caballé I to Vallbufandes I
back through Val de Caballé I → Vallbufandes I is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.