ETR // Stage 56 // Lorca - Tabernas

37°40'39.6"N 1°42'16.0"W
37.677662, -1.704437
Lorca - Tabernas
VR EXPO - 60 Stages
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Distance

Lorca - Tabernas
Radius 100 km
181 km

Highlights

La Costa Cálida
Huércal Overa
Alto de Velefique
Águilas
Mojácar, Andalucia
Cabo de Gata Natural Park
San José
Desierto de Tabernas
Sorbas
Porche, Castillo, Calvario & Torreta

La Costa Cálida awaits you

This region in the heart of the Costa Cálida, offers riders a rich artistic heritage, and a range of interesting destinations, attractions and locations, dotted along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and the hinterland of the national parks, inland.

Ride through the mountain town of Bacarés, and take the A-334 to the picturesque town of Huércal Overa, a merging of two medieval settlements, Huercal and Overa. This market town has many interesting buildings and monuments dating back to the middle ages, such as the Nuestra Seňora de la Asunción church, built in 1505, La Asunción de la Virgen built in 1748, and the Chapel of Jesús Nazareno, from 1749.

Alto de Velefique - The Spanish Stelvio

Traversed by the AL-3102 road, the Alto de Velefique is a high mountain pass located in Sierra de Los Filabres, in the province of Almería. This great road covers a distance of 11km, until you reach an elevation of 1,820m above the sea level, where you can enjoy spectacular views of the road itself. Also known as Puerto de Velefique, the road is quite challenging, with 29 hairpin turns, and a steep 17% gradient through some of the bends. Alto de Velefique is featured in the Vuelta a España race as a 1st category climb.

Alto de Velefique is open all year round, and in summers the area can be extremely hot, with the occasional closure in winters due to dangerous weather conditions. The ascent is very scenic because of the multitude of hairpin-bends it relentlessly throws at you. Once you have ridden this great road in both directions, or more, ride out into The Badlands - Desierto de Tabernas is the only European desert, and therefore is one of the famous landmarks of Spain.

Cut out to the coast for a while

If you wanted to ride a coastal loop to include the main stage of the ETR, you could head out to the coast at Águilas and enjoy the fantastic curves these great roads throws at you. Situated on the Costa Cálida, Águilas became a major mining enclave in the 19th century, and a lot of activity was based around the Hornillo jetty, where iron, lead and silver from the nearby mines, was loaded onto ships.

Ride onwards to Vera, the walled renaissance town located in the Levante of Almería. The town was originally called Baria, and was located closer to the sea near Villaricos. Before the Arab occupation, the residents moved the town to the hill of Espiritu Santo, however, a huge earthquake subsequently destroyed the area in 1518. Legend has it, that when Queen Isabel climbed to the top of the hill, she fired an arrow, and ordered that Vera be rebuilt wherever the arrow landed. The town as we know it today, was rebuilt in the 16th century, and later developed further, in the 18th century.

Continue along the coast to Mojácar (Andalucia), and take a stop at El Mirador de la Plaza Nueva, where you can enjoy spectacular views from the hills over the sea, overlooking solitary coves and beaches, such as La Higuerica, La Carolina or Calabardina, with crystal-clear waters.

Cabo de Gata Natural Park

Continue your Mediterranean experience along the Costa Cálida, enjoying fabulous views along this spectacular road taking in many great curves and vistas until you arrive at the village of Carboneras, located at the start of the Cabo de Gata Nature Park. The entire region of Cabo de Gata is an area of outstanding beauty, and you could spend days exploring the area’s beaches, bays and villages. The area enjoys a Mediterranean sub-tropical climate, which means you can enjoy the region at any time of year. The 16th century fortified castle dominates Carboneras, as well as two watchtowers that date from the 16th and 18th centuries.

When you arrive at the lighthouse of Cabo de Gata, you can say that you have been where the south eastern Spain ends. The lighthouse was built on the ruins of the castle of San Francisco de Paula, a section of the existing coastal defence battery of the Almería Coast, which was destroyed during the War of Independence, when Napoleon was causing problems here. Before this, it was known at the time of the Greeks and Phoenicians, and has been used throughout history as a navigational reference point for sailors. The lighthouse was originally constructed as a warning to mariners of the presence of the dangerous reef situated one nautical mile into the sea off the lighthouse, the cause of many bad shipwrecks throughout history.

After a short break, ride on to San José which was once a small fishing village in the 18th Century, and is situated around a shallow bay towards the south end of Cabo de Gata Natural Area. These days, San José is the most important tourist hub of the Cabo de Gata-Níjar National Park. The fishing activity, once the principal economic activity of the town, has now been replaced by tourism. However, it has managed to do so without losing any of the original beauty and quality of scenery, thanks to its location between volcanic mountains, and stunning beaches and bays.

Photos

Dave O'Byrne
European Touring Route AS

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Desierto de Tabernas

Remember to bring and drink lots of water! From whichever direction you choose to take, ride over to Desierto de Tabernas, a hotspot (very warm place) for Hollywood cinema for two decades, and was the location for many Sergio Leone movies in the 60s and 70s.

This unique, beautiful and enigmatic landscape has provided the backdrops for legendary films such as "A Fistful of Dollars", "For a Few Dollars More", "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" and "Indiana Jones and the last Crusade". Hundreds of famous actors have left their footprints here, such as Clint Eastwood, Brigitte Bardot, Anthony Quinn, Claudia Cardinale, Alain Delon, Sean Connery, Harrison Ford, Raquel Welch and Orson Wells.

Evening ride into The Desert

In the evening, you should take a nice ride through the Desierto de Tabernas, until you arrive at Sorbas, an extremely impressive village, also known as Cuenca la Chica. Sorbas is situated on a small plateau over the Río Aguas, and the white houses almost appear to be suspended over the ravine. The most important attraction is the Karst Formation in the Yesos de Sobras, the most important of its kind in Europe. A product of rainwater falling over thousands of years, this geological jewel has many caves and caverns, including ‘El Agua’, the biggest of them, or ‘Covadura’, the deepest cave, and ‘Tesoro’ or ‘Yesos’, considered the most beautiful.

The urbanization and growth of this town is also quite interesting, and in some cases surprising, considering the fact that many of the houses are suspended on the edge of a cliff. Among the web of steep and narrow Arabesque streets there are various viewpoints - Porche, Castillo, Calvario and Torreta - from where visitors can contemplate the hanging houses, and the beautiful environment that surrounds them. Bring plenty of water, as this region is also very hot in the evening time!