Why this ride
A 107 km round trip from Castro - roughly 2 h 14 in the saddle. On the way it passes Church of San Juan and back through Church of San Juan. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Church of Castro and Churgh of Caguach · 147 km from Castro
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 107 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 14
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Scenic road chapters
Chiloe Island Route
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 53 km this is Chiloe Island Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 53 km
- Named road
- Chiloe Island Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
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 San Juan.
2. Church of San Juan
San Juan is a tiny village on a sheltered inlet on the east coast of Chiloé, the big green island off the coast of southern Chile, and its wooden church stands right by the water, painted white with a tall tower, looking out over the boats moored in the channel. It is one of the sixteen Churches of Chiloé on the World Heritage list, a unique school of wooden architecture that grew out of the Jesuit missions of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and was continued by the Franciscans and the islanders themselves. The churches were built by local carpenters using native woods, with techniques borrowed from boat building, and many of them are covered in wooden shingles. Inside, the vaulted ceilings often look like the hull of an upturned ship.
Read the complete Church of San Juan write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Church of San Juan comes up about 53 km into the recorded legs. Next is Churgh of Caguach.
3. back through Church of San Juan
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of San Juan 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 San Juan, late in the day. Next is Church of Castro.
4. 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.
Leg by leg
Church of Castro to Church of San Juan
Church of Castro → Church of San Juan is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of San Juan to back through Church of San Juan
Church of San Juan → back through Church of San Juan is 1 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Church of San Juan to Church of Castro
back through Church of San Juan → Church of Castro is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.