Church of Castro and Church of Aldachildo

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Church of Castro

   Castro's church is the first thing that makes visitors to Chiloé stop talking. San Francisco stands on the Plaza de Armas of the island's capital, a big building with a corrugated-metal skin painted in yellow and violet, two towers and a wooden interior that is mostly hand-cut native timber. It was built in the early twentieth century to replace an earlier church that burned, by an Italian architect, and it is one of the sixteen Chiloé churches that UNESCO listed in 2000. The rest are mostly smaller and older, scattered along the coast, built by Jesuit missionaries and their Chilote carpenters, who were boat builders first and used what they knew. If you tip your head back inside, the vaulted ceiling looks like an upturned hull.

   Read the complete Church of Castro write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Church of Castro is where the day begins. Next is Church of Vilupulli.

2. 2. Church of Vilupulli

   On the island of Chiloé, in southern Chile, the churches are made of wood, and the whole archipelago has been built around that fact. Vilupulli is one of the sixteen churches that UNESCO lists as an exceptional example of a local tradition, combining European ideas with the shipbuilding skills of Chilote carpenters. Jesuit missionaries arrived in the seventeenth century and planned a circuit of chapels, and after they were expelled the communities kept them going, with local families caring for the buildings and holding festivals. The result is a string of timber churches with plank walls, shingled towers and painted interiors, each in a fishing village or on a quiet inlet.

   Read the complete Church of Vilupulli write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Church of Vilupulli comes up about 20 km into the recorded legs. Next is Church of Aldachildo.

3. 3. Church of Aldachildo

   Aldachildo is another of the small wooden churches on Lemuy, and it asks you to think about how the Chilote churches were actually used. They were not built for tourists, or even mainly for Sundays. When Jesuit missionaries began to organise the islands in the seventeenth century, they did not have enough priests to be everywhere. So they trained local laymen to look after chapels, lead prayers and baptise, and the missionaries themselves sailed round the circuit once a year, on a kind of pilgrimage that the communities still remember with an annual festival. After the Jesuits were expelled in the eighteenth century, those lay guardians kept the system alive.

   Read the complete Church of Aldachildo write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 48 km into the recorded legs you reach Church of Aldachildo. Next is back through Church of Vilupulli.

4. 4. back through Church of Vilupulli

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Church of Vilupulli write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Church of Vilupulli, late in the day. Next is Church of Castro.

5. 5. Church of Castro

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Church of Castro write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Church of Castro. That is the ride.