Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art and Chemin de la Liébana

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art

   In 1879 a little girl lost interest in her father's digging and wandered further into a cave in Cantabria. She looked up and saw bulls on the ceiling. The father, Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola, a local landowner and amateur archaeologist, was digging in the floor of Altamira, a cave a hunter had stumbled on some years earlier. When he announced that the paintings were of the Ice Age, the experts of Europe laughed at him, and it was not until 1902, after similar paintings turned up in France, that the leading sceptic published a famous apology. Sautuola died long before that.

   Read the complete Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art is where the day begins. Next is Hornos de la Peña.

2. 2. Hornos de la Peña

   Above the village of San Felices de Buelna, on a limestone hillside in the Besaya valley of Cantabria, a cave called Hornos de la Peña holds engravings made by Palaeolithic hunters. The most famous is the outline of a horse, scratched into the rock thousands of years ago, along with other animals and signs that take time and a good guide to pick out. The cave is one of the seventeen in northern Spain listed by UNESCO alongside Altamira, and visits are limited and guided, so check ahead rather than simply turning up.

   Read the complete Hornos de la Peña write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Hornos de la Peña comes up about 22 km into the recorded legs. Next is Chemin de la Liébana.

3. 3. Chemin de la Liébana

   San Vicente de la Barquera is where the Camino Lebaniego begins, the old pilgrim route that leaves the Cantabrian coast and climbs south into the mountains of Liébana to the monastery of Santo Toribio. The town sits on a pair of estuaries, with a long medieval bridge carrying the road across the water, a castle and the Gothic church of Santa María above the harbour, and on clear days the snowy peaks of the Picos de Europa rising behind the marshes like a stage set.

   Read the complete Chemin de la Liébana write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 72 km into the recorded legs you reach Chemin de la Liébana. Next is back through Hornos de la Peña.

4. 4. back through Hornos de la Peña

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Hornos de la Peña write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Hornos de la Peña, late in the day. Next is Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art.

5. 5. Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art. That is the ride.