La Gran Piedra means simply the Great Stone, and that is exactly what waits at the top: an enormous boulder sitting on the crest of the Sierra de la Gran Piedra, over twelve hundred metres above sea level and roughly twenty kilometres east of Santiago de Cuba. You climb several hundred stone steps from the road to reach it, and a metal ladder takes you onto the rock itself. On a clear morning the view runs over forested ridges to the Caribbean on one side and inland across the Sierra Maestra on the other, and people say that on the clearest nights you can see the lights of Jamaica and Haiti.
The mountains here carry a story of migration. After the Haitian Revolution at the end of the eighteenth century, French coffee planters fled to eastern Cuba and established plantations on these cool, misty slopes. The ruins of their estates, with drying floors, water channels and stone houses, are part of the Archaeological Landscape of the First Coffee Plantations in the South-East of Cuba, a World Heritage site. La Isabelica, a restored plantation house a short distance from the summit, is now a museum showing how the estates worked, and it is a short, rough ride or walk from the main road.
The road up is one of the most dramatic climbs in Cuba. It leaves the coast road near Siboney and twists up through tropical forest in a long series of tight, steep bends, with the temperature dropping noticeably as you climb. The surface is broken in places, there are no barriers on some drops, and mist can roll in suddenly, so take it slowly and keep your eyes up. The forest is lush with ferns, giant bamboo and orchids, and there is a botanical garden on the way with tropical flowers.
Practical matters in Cuba need extra care. Fuel can be hard to find and queues long, so fill up in Santiago before you go and carry what you can. There are a few basic facilities near the summit, but do not count on them. The best time to ride is in the dry season, roughly November to April, early in the day before the clouds build. Pack water, a light jacket for the top, and patience, since Cuban roads demand plenty of it.