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 Nerpio it runs 280 km to Nerpio; allow about 4 h 46 of riding. It goes by way of Cueva de las Palamas, Cueva del Tio Labrador and back through Cueva de las Palamas. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,400 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Nerpio is about as far from anywhere as you can get in mainland Spain. The village lies in the southwestern corner of Albacete province, close to the borders of Murcia, Granada and Jaén, in a high, wild landscape of limestone ridges, pine forest and deep river valleys. The area is known for two things: walnuts, which grow in huge old trees along the Taibilla river and are celebrated in local cooking, and one of the densest concentrations of prehistoric rock art in the Iberian Peninsula, part of the UNESCO-listed rock art of the Mediterranean Basin. The generic label Zona 1 points at the hills near the village, where rock shelters with painted figures are scattered across the cliffs.
Read the complete Zona 1 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Zona 1 is where the day begins. Next is Cueva de las Palamas.
Cehegín, in the north-west of the Murcia region, is a town of two faces: a modern lower town, and an old town on a hill, with steep streets, noble houses and churches, declared a historic site. The Cueva de las Palomas, the cave of the doves, lies on the edge of the town, less than a kilometre from the centre, with the larger town of Caravaca de la Cruz about five kilometres away.
Read the complete Cueva de las Palamas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cueva de las Palamas comes up about 74 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cueva del Tio Labrador.
Vélez-Rubio is a larger and busier place than its neighbour Vélez-Blanco, with seven thousand people, a lively main street, and a church that is a surprise in a town this size. The Church of the Encarnación, begun in the eighteenth century, has twin towers and a massive Baroque façade, usually described as the largest Baroque church in Almería, and its bulk dominates the roofs. It is a good place to start before riding up toward the mountains, because the fuel stations here are the nearest reliable ones for a long way.
Read the complete Cueva del Tio Labrador write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 141 km into the recorded legs you reach Cueva del Tio Labrador. Next is back through Cueva de las Palamas.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cueva de las Palamas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Cueva de las Palamas, late in the day. Next is Zona 1.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Zona 1 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Zona 1. That is the ride.
Zona 1 → Cueva de las Palamas is 74 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Cueva de las Palamas → Cueva del Tio Labrador is 67 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cueva del Tío Labrador → back through Cueva de las Palamas is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cueva de las Palamas → Zona 1 is 74 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.