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.
200 km from San Vicente de la Barquera to San Vicente de la Barquera, about 4 h 03 of riding. It goes by way of El Pindal, Chufín, Llonín and Covaciella. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,100 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 24 km this is Picos de Europa Loop, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Chemin de la Liébana is where the day begins. Next is El Pindal.
On the coast of eastern Asturias, near the village of Pimiango, a cave opens in the cliffs above the sea, and inside, Palaeolithic artists painted and engraved animals on the walls: a mammoth, horses, a bison, a fish, and many red dots and signs. El Pindal is one of the caves included in the World Heritage listing of the Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain, and its location, with the sea pounding the rocks below and the Picos de Europa rising inland, is spectacular. Visits are limited and guided, to protect the paintings.
Read the complete El Pindal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
El Pindal comes up about 22 km into the recorded legs. Next is Chufín.
The Nansa is one of the shortest and wildest rivers in Cantabria, running from the high mountains on the edge of the Picos de Europa to the Bay of Biscay, and halfway along its course, near the hamlet of Riclones, a cave opens in the limestone above the water. This is the Cueva de Chufín, where Palaeolithic people engraved and painted animals, signs and symbols on the walls thousands of years ago. It is one of the caves of the Cantabrian coast included in the World Heritage site of Altamira and Palaeolithic cave art of northern Spain.
Read the complete Chufín write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 50 km into the recorded legs you reach Chufín. Next is Llonín.
The cave of Llonín is not one you can walk into. It sits in the valley of the river Cares in Peñamellera Alta, in the far east of Asturias, and it is one of the decorated Palaeolithic caves of northern Spain listed by UNESCO alongside Altamira. Its walls hold engravings and paintings of deer, goats and other animals, and the cave has been studied by archaeologists for decades, but access is restricted to protect the art. What you get instead is the landscape that sheltered those artists, and that is very much worth the trip.
Read the complete Llonín write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Llonín, about halfway. Next is Covaciella.
Between the coastal town of Llanes and the high limestone walls of the Picos de Europa, a small cave near Carreña de Cabrales holds images that have been in the dark for something like fifteen thousand years. Covaciella was only found in the 1990s, and its paintings of bison, horses and deer, in black and red, are among the finest examples of Palaeolithic art in Asturias. It was added to the UNESCO listing of the Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain in 2008. The cave is closed to the public to protect the paintings, but the nearby interpretation centre explains what is inside and why it matters.
Read the complete Covaciella write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Covaciella sits at 81 km, about halfway. Next is back through Llonín.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Llonín write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Llonín comes up about 127 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Chufín.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Chufín write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 151 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Chufín. Next is back through El Pindal.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete El Pindal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through El Pindal, late in the day. Next is Chemin de la Liébana.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Chemin de la Liébana write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 200 km.
Chemin de la Liébana → El Pindal is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
El Pindal → Chufín is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Chufín → Llonín is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Llonín → Covaciella is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Covaciella → back through Llonín is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Llonín → back through Chufín is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Chufín → back through El Pindal is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through El Pindal → Chemin de la Liébana is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.