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.
60 km from Almería to Sorbas, about 56 min of riding. On the way it passes Mini Hollywood and Tabernas. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,000 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 27 km this is Tabernas Desert Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Almería has a dry, bright, slightly North African feel that makes it unlike most Spanish cities, and the reason is simple: it gets less rain than almost anywhere in Europe. The city lies on a wide bay with the arid Sierra Alhamilla behind it, and the whole landscape is in shades of sand, ochre and pale grey. In summer it is hot and bright, in winter it is gentle, and the sea breeze keeps the air moving.
Read the complete Almería write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Almeria is where the day begins. Next is Mini Hollywood.
Mini Hollywood, officially Oasys, is a Wild West town that happens to be in southern Spain, and it makes a better stop than a cynic might expect. The reason is the land. Around Tabernas, in the province of Almería, the hills are bare, cracked and rust-coloured, rainfall is among the lowest in Europe, and filmmakers realised in the 1960s that the place looked enough like Arizona and Mexico to pass. Sergio Leone shot much of the spaghetti western A Fistful of Dollars out here, and later productions, including an Indiana Jones film, borrowed the same badlands.
Read the complete Mini Hollywood write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Mini Hollywood comes up about 27 km into the recorded legs. Next is Tabernas.
Tabernas is a small white town on the edge of the desert that carries its name, and the first thing you notice is the ruined castle on the hill above. It is a Moorish fortress, later fought over by Christian armies in the Reconquista, and it has been a ruin for a long time. The town itself is a working one, built along the road, with a plaza, a few bars and a feeling of waiting for the next film crew. Cinema made it famous, but farming and travel keep it alive.
Read the complete Near Tabernas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 34 km into the recorded legs you reach Tabernas. Next is Sorbas.
The village of Sorbas is perched on the very lip of a gorge, with houses crowded to the edge of a gypsum cliff and the Río Aguas curling far below in a horseshoe. From the viewpoints you can see the whole sweep of it, pale rock walls falling away on all sides, with the white houses seeming to teeter above the drop. It is a dramatic setting for a quiet place of about two and a half thousand people, and it looks a lot like a village from a Western with the colour turned up.
Read the complete Sorbas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Sorbas closes the day.
Almeria → Mini Hollywood is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mini Hollywood → Tabernas is 7 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tabernas → Sorbas is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.