Why this ride
A mountain loop based around Potes, Spain, via Fuente De. Key character: limestone peaks; gorges; green valleys. Surface: paved.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Picos de Europa Loop
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 248 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 29
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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.
Scenic road chapters
Picos de Europa Loop
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 8 km this is Picos de Europa Loop, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 8 km
- Named road
- Picos de Europa Loop
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Cangas de Onís
This is where Spain's story of reconquest is told, at least the way it is told in Asturias. A few kilometres up the road at Covadonga, the local lord Pelayo is said to have beaten a Muslim force around 722, an event that became the founding legend of the Kingdom of Asturias, and Cangas de Onís was that kingdom's first capital. So a small town of about six thousand people carries rather a lot of history, and it shows in the Roman Bridge, which is actually medieval, with its high single arch over the Sella and a cross hanging beneath it.
Read the complete Cangas de Onís write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Picos de Europa Loop point 1 sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Picos de Europa Loop point 2.
2. Near Cangas de Onís
This is where Spain's story of reconquest is told, at least the way it is told in Asturias. A few kilometres up the road at Covadonga, the local lord Pelayo is said to have beaten a Muslim force around 722, an event that became the founding legend of the Kingdom of Asturias, and Cangas de Onís was that kingdom's first capital. So a small town of about six thousand people carries rather a lot of history, and it shows in the Roman Bridge, which is actually medieval, with its high single arch over the Sella and a cross hanging beneath it.
Read the complete Cangas de Onís write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Picos de Europa Loop point 2 comes up 18 km in. Next is Picos de Europa Loop point 3.
3. Near Amieva
The western massif of the Picos de Europa, the Cornión, rises in a wall of grey limestone above the green valleys of eastern Asturias, and the country around Amieva, Cangas de Onís and Covadonga is where the mountains first take hold. It is a land of deep gorges, steep meadows, stone villages and fast rivers, with cows and goats on the slopes and the peaks often lost in cloud.
Read the complete Near Amieva write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
35 km in you reach Picos de Europa Loop point 3. Next is Picos de Europa Loop point 4.
4. Potes
Potes is the capital of Liébana, a hidden-away valley in Cantabria that is walled in by the Picos de Europa on three sides and so mild and sheltered that it grows fruit and grapes at the foot of mountains that still carry snow in June. The town sits where the rivers Deva and Quiviesca meet, under a square medieval tower, the Torre del Infantado, with stone bridges, arcaded houses and narrow streets climbing away from the water. It has only a little over a thousand residents, which is why everybody on the street seems to know everybody else.
Read the complete Potes write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Picos de Europa Loop point 4, about halfway. Next is Picos de Europa Loop point 5.
5. Near Posada de Valdeón
Here the high wall of the Picos de Europa closes the Liébana valley like a stage curtain. Around Fuente Dé, the road from Potes simply runs out against a cliff, an amphitheatre of grey limestone that rises some eight hundred metres almost straight up. A cable car, the Teleférico de Fuente Dé, climbs that face in a few minutes to the upper station at around 1,800 metres, and from the top you walk out onto a moonscape of karst, scree and old mine workings, with the peaks of the Central Massif all around. On a clear day it is one of the great views of northern Spain. On a cloudy one, you rise through grey fog and step out above a sea of cloud.
Read the complete Near Posada de Valdeón write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Picos de Europa Loop point 5 sits at 71 km, about halfway. Next is Picos de Europa Loop point 6.
6. Near Carreña
Planning note
Picos de Europa Loop point 6 comes up 88 km in. Next is Picos de Europa Loop point 7.
7. Cangas de Onís
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cangas de Onís write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
248 km in you reach Picos de Europa Loop point 7.