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.
From San Vicente de la Barquera it runs 220 km to San Vicente de la Barquera; allow about 3 h 54 of riding. It goes by way of El Pindal, Chemin de la Liébana, Altamira and Hornos de la Peña. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,000 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
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 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 49 km into the recorded legs you reach Chemin de la Liébana. Next is Altamira.
In 1879 a nine-year-old girl named María was exploring a cave near Santillana del Mar with her father, Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola, an amateur archaeologist. While he dug in the floor, she looked up at the ceiling and saw painted animals. The bison of Altamira, painted in red and black on the uneven rock so that their bodies seem to swell and move in the flickering light, are among the greatest works of prehistoric art in the world. When Sautuola published his discovery, most experts refused to believe that cavemen could have produced such sophisticated paintings, and he was accused of fraud. He died before he was vindicated; only after similar paintings were found in France did the leading sceptic, Émile Cartailhac, publish a famous apology. Altamira was listed by UNESCO in 1985.
Read the complete Altamira write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Altamira, about halfway. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hornos de la Peña sits at 83 km, about halfway. Next is back through Altamira.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Altamira write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Altamira comes up about 133 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through 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.
about 171 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Chemin de la Liébana. 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.
The route ends here after 220 km.
Chufín → El Pindal is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
El Pindal → Chemin de la Liébana is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Chemin de la Liébana → Altamira is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Altamira → Hornos de la Peña is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hornos de la Peña → back through Altamira is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Altamira → back through Chemin de la Liébana is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Chemin de la Liébana → back through El Pindal is 22 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.