Why this ride
From Chonchi it runs 184 km to Chonchi; allow about 4 h 58 of riding. The stops in between: Church of Aldachildo, Church of Chonchi, Church of Nercón and Church of Rilán.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Church of Detif and Church of Rilán
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 184 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 58
- 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 24 km this is Chiloe Island Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 24 km
- Named road
- Chiloe Island Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Church of Detif
Of all the islands of the Chiloé archipelago, Lemuy is one of the quietest, and the church at Detif, at its far eastern end, stands almost alone on a grassy slope above the sea, with a few houses scattered around and the islands of the inner sea on the horizon. It is one of the sixteen wooden Churches of Chiloé listed as a World Heritage site, built in the late nineteenth century of native wood, with a simple façade, an arcade at the front and a tower rising above the entrance. The interior is equally simple and beautiful, and the church is cared for by the local community, which still uses it for services and festivals, such as the feast of its patron saint.
Read the complete Church of Detif write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Church of Detif is where the day begins. Next is Church of Aldachildo.
2. 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
Church of Aldachildo comes up about 18 km into the recorded legs. Next is Church of Chonchi.
3. Church of Chonchi
Chonchi is a small port town on the east coast of Chiloe, built on a steep hillside above the channel, and locals sometimes call it the city of three floors, because its streets climb in terraces from the waterfront to the plaza and the church above. The church of San Carlos de Borromeo, painted in warm yellow and red and crowned with a tall tower, was built in the nineteenth century, in the typical style of the island, and it dominates the square. Inside, it has the characteristic wooden columns and a ceiling like the hull of a ship, and the interior smells of old timber and wax.
Read the complete Church of Chonchi write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 42 km into the recorded legs you reach Church of Chonchi. Next is Church of Nercón.
4. Church of Nercón
Chiloé, the big island off the coast of southern Chile, is a place of rain, mist, green fields and sheep, and its most distinctive treasure is its wooden churches. More than a hundred and fifty were built, mostly in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and sixteen of them were listed by UNESCO in 2000. The Jesuits began the tradition in the seventeenth century, when they travelled around the archipelago by boat, holding mass in chapels in each community, and after they were expelled in 1767, the local people kept the tradition going on their own, with carpenters and shipbuilders who knew how to work wood.
Read the complete Church of Nercón write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Church of Nercón, about halfway. Next is Church of Rilán.
5. Church of Rilán
Chiloé is an island of rain, wood and faith, lying off the coast of southern Chile across the narrow Chacao channel, and its wooden churches are its great treasure. Built by island carpenters following a tradition introduced by Jesuit missionaries in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and continued by Franciscans, they combine European church forms with local shipbuilding skills, using native timbers and covering the walls with overlapping wooden shingles called tejuelas. Sixteen of them were listed by UNESCO in 2000, and the church of Santa María de Rilán is one of them. It stands on the Rilán peninsula, east of Castro, facing a quiet inlet, its tall tower and painted wooden facade rising above the low houses and green fields of the village.
Read the complete Church of Rilán write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Church of Rilán sits at 72 km, about halfway. Next is back through Church of Nercón.
6. back through Church of Nercón
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of Nercón 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 Nercón comes up about 124 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Church of Chonchi.
7. back through Church of Chonchi
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of Chonchi write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 142 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Church of Chonchi. Next is back through Church of Aldachildo.
8. back through Church of Aldachildo
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
back through Church of Aldachildo, late in the day. Next is Church of Detif.
9. Church of Detif
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of Detif write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 184 km.
Leg by leg
Church of Detif to Church of Aldachildo
Church of Detif → Church of Aldachildo is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of Aldachildo to Church of Chonchi
Church of Aldachildo → Church of Chonchi is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of Chonchi to Church of Nercón
Church of Chonchi → Church of Nercón is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of Nercón to Church of Rilán
Church of Nercón → Church of Rilán is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of Rilán to back through Church of Nercón
Church of Rilán → back through Church of Nercón is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Church of Nercón to back through Church of Chonchi
back through Church of Nercón → back through Church of Chonchi is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Church of Chonchi to back through Church of Aldachildo
back through Church of Chonchi → back through Church of Aldachildo is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Church of Aldachildo to Church of Detif
back through Church of Aldachildo → Church of Detif is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.