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 445 km round trip from Villaviciosa - roughly 9 h 35 in the saddle. On the way it passes Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Cuesta Fria, Chemin de la Liébana and back through Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Cuesta Fria. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,350 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 106 km this is Picos de Europa Loop, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Tucked into a narrow valley a few kilometres south of Villaviciosa, the little church of San Salvador de Valdediós is one of the jewels of Asturian pre-Romanesque architecture. Locals call it El Conventín, the little convent, and it was consecrated at the end of the ninth century under King Alfonso III, during the period when the small Kingdom of Asturias was the only Christian state in Iberia not under Muslim rule. Its tall, narrow nave, round arches and delicate stone lattice windows give it a strangely intimate atmosphere.
Read the complete Eglise San Salvador write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Eglise San Salvador is where the day begins. Next is Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Cuesta Fria.
The beech forests of Cuesta Fría cling to the north-facing slopes of the Valdeón valley, on the León side of the Picos de Europa, where the limestone mountains rise abruptly above the green of the Cantabrian coast. They are part of a group of old beech woods across Europe that UNESCO recognised for their natural value, because the trees here have grown with little human interference for a very long time. Posada de Valdeón, a village of a few hundred people, lies about five kilometres away.
Read the complete Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Cuesta Fria write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Cuesta Fria comes up about 106 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 221 km into the recorded legs you reach Chemin de la Liébana. Next is back through Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Cuesta Fria.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Cuesta Fria write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Cuesta Fria, late in the day. Next is Eglise San Salvador.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Eglise San Salvador write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Eglise San Salvador. That is the ride.
Eglise San Salvador → Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Cuesta Fria is 106 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Cuesta Fria → Chemin de la Liébana is 115 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Chemin de la Liébana → back through Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Cuesta Fria is 117 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Cuesta Fria → Eglise San Salvador is 107 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.