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.
A 217 km round trip from Ares del Maestre - roughly 4 h 57 in the saddle. The stops in between: Covatina del Tossalet del mas de !a Rambla, Cova de Gargán and back through Covatina del Tossalet del mas de !a Rambla. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,300 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Villaroges
Villaroges is one of those names that appears on a map of prehistoric sites rather than a road atlas, somewhere in the high country of the Alt Maestrat between Benassal, Culla and Vilafranca. It belongs to the extraordinary concentration of rock art in the mountains of Castellón, where small painted shelters are scattered through the ravines, protected as part of the UNESCO-listed rock art of the Mediterranean Basin. Exactly where the panel lies, and whether it can be visited, is a question for the local tourist office or the museum at Tírig; treat the name as an invitation into one of the emptiest and most beautiful corners of eastern Spain.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Villaroges is where the day begins. Next is Covatina del Tossalet del mas de !a Rambla.
2. Covatina del Tossalet del mas de !a Rambla
This is high Maestrat country, where Castellón's mountains roll into Teruel's, and the small rock shelter called the Covatina del Tossalet del Mas de la Rambla belongs to a family of sites that UNESCO lists together as the Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula. Under overhangs like this one, hunters and early farmers painted small, lively figures in red and black: archers in mid-stride, deer and ibex, scenes of hunting and gathering. The style, called Levantine art, is unusual for its movement and its storytelling, and many of the shelters are tiny, fragile and kept behind fences. Access is often by guided visit only, so check with the local tourist office before you count on seeing the paintings.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Covatina del Tossalet del mas de !a Rambla comes up about 22 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cova de Gargán.
3. Cova de Gargán
High in the interior of Castellón, where the coastal orange groves are long forgotten and the land climbs toward the Penyagolosa massif, the shelter known as Cova de Gargán sits in a country of limestone ledges, holm oak and dry-stone terraces. Vistabella del Maestrazgo is the nearest village, a handful of kilometres away on its high plateau, with Villahermosa del Río down in its valley to the other side and Lucena del Cid a little further south. It is quiet up here in a way that the coast never is.