Why this ride
217 km from Nonaspe to Nonaspe, about 3 h 45 of riding. It goes by way of Sierra de los Rincones I, mas de Torres and back through Sierra de los Rincones I. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Valmayor IV and mas de Torres
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 217 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 45
- 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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Valmayor IV
Where the Ebro, the Segre and the Cinca meet in eastern Aragon, a vast reservoir stretches for dozens of kilometres between bare, ochre hills. The locals call it the Mar de Aragón, the Sea of Aragon, and it was created in the 1960s when the Mequinenza dam flooded the valley. The old town of Mequinenza went under the water too, and its people were moved to a new town built above, a story told in moving detail in the local museums and in the novels of Jesús Moncada, who grew up there.
Read the complete Valmayor IV write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Valmayor IV is where the day begins. Next is Sierra de los Rincones I.
2. Sierra de los Rincones I
Aragon and Catalonia meet along the Segre and Ebro here, and the map is full of names that mean corners and nooks. The Sierra de los Rincones is a low range of dry, rocky hills above the confluence of the Segre, Cinca and Ebro rivers, with scrub of juniper, thyme and pine and a lot of bare ground, in a region that gets less than 400 millimetres of rain a year. The great reservoir of Mequinenza, the Mar de Aragón, lies to the south, and from the high ground the view takes in water, hills and a haze of dust. The Ebro here is more than a river, it is a reservoir, with the valley flooded and the old towns beneath the water.
Read the complete Sierra de los Rincones I write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Sierra de los Rincones I comes up about 47 km into the recorded legs. 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
about 109 km into the recorded legs you reach mas de Torres. Next is back through Sierra de los Rincones I.
4. back through Sierra de los Rincones I
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sierra de los Rincones I write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Sierra de los Rincones I, late in the day. Next is Valmayor IV.
5. Valmayor IV
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Valmayor IV write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Valmayor IV. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Valmayor IV to Sierra de los Rincones I
Valmayor IV → Sierra de los Rincones I is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sierra de los Rincones I to mas de Torres
Sierra de los Rincones I → mas de Torres is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
mas de Torres to back through Sierra de los Rincones I
mas de Torres → back through Sierra de los Rincones I is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Sierra de los Rincones I to Valmayor IV
back through Sierra de los Rincones I → Valmayor IV is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.