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.
A 152 km round trip from San Vicente de la Barquera - roughly 2 h 45 in the saddle. On the way it passes El Pindal, Covaciella and back through El Pindal. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,100 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 46 km this is Picos de Europa Loop, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
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.
Chufín 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 28 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 74 km into the recorded legs you reach Covaciella. 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 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.
Back at Chufín. That is the ride.
Chufín → El Pindal is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
El Pindal → Covaciella is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Covaciella → back through El Pindal is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through El Pindal → Chufín is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.