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 Villaviciosa it runs 317 km to Villaviciosa; allow about 4 h 26 of riding. On the way it passes Basilica of San Julián de los Prados, Eglise et Monastère de San Salvador, La Foncalada and Santa Cristina de Lena. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,250 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 52 km this is Ruta de la Plata, 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 Basilica of San Julián de los Prados.
Asturias had a king who believed in building well, and Alfonso II, known as the Chaste, is the reason the church of San Julián de los Prados exists. He made Oviedo his capital in the early ninth century, and the basilica, known locally as Santullano, was raised outside the city walls around the year 830. It is the largest church of the Asturian pre-Romanesque style, a plain, tall building of stone with a red-tiled roof, and it has one thing that makes it unique.
Read the complete Basilica of San Julián de los Prados write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Basilica of San Julián de los Prados comes up about 52 km into the recorded legs. Next is Eglise et Monastère de San Salvador.
Pilgrims have been trudging past these walls for about a thousand years, which makes a motorcycle look like a rather recent idea. The monastery of San Salvador de Cornellana stands beside the Narcea river in central Asturias, on the old inland route to Santiago that runs west from Oviedo through Grado and Salas. It was founded in the eleventh century, passed to the Benedictines of Cluny, and the church that survives keeps Romanesque bones under later remodelling. The bulk of the cloister and the old monastic buildings give the little village a weight that seems out of proportion to its size.
Read the complete Eglise et Monastère de San Salvador write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 86 km into the recorded legs you reach Eglise et Monastère de San Salvador. Next is La Foncalada.
Oviedo has a tiny fountain that is older than almost everything else in the city, and it sits in a gap between two streets a few steps from the cathedral. La Foncalada, a little stone building with a gabled front and a pool inside, was built in the ninth century in the time of King Alfonso III, and it is the only surviving civil building of the Asturian pre-Romanesque style in the capital. Water from a spring still flows through it, and a pilgrim on the Camino Primitivo, the oldest of the routes to Santiago, passes by on the way through town. It is easy to walk past without noticing, which would be a pity.
Read the complete La Foncalada write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
La Foncalada, about halfway. Next is Santa Cristina de Lena.
On a grassy knoll above the Lena valley, south of Oviedo, stands a tiny stone church that has watched over the main road between Asturias and Castile for more than a thousand years. Santa Cristina de Lena is one of the jewels of Asturian pre-Romanesque architecture, built in the ninth century when the little Christian kingdom of Asturias was the only part of Iberia outside Muslim rule. Its unusual plan, with a raised presbytery behind an arcade of carved arches, and its finely worked stone screens are unique. Together with Santa María del Naranco and San Miguel de Lillo in Oviedo, it is part of a World Heritage listing.
Read the complete Santa Cristina de Lena write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Santa Cristina de Lena sits at 161 km, about halfway. Next is back through La Foncalada.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete La Foncalada write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through La Foncalada comes up about 195 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Eglise et Monastère de San Salvador.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Eglise et Monastère de San Salvador write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 228 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Eglise et Monastère de San Salvador. Next is back through Basilica of San Julián de los Prados.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Basilica of San Julián de los Prados write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Basilica of San Julián de los Prados, 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.
The route ends here after 317 km.
Eglise San Salvador → Basilica of San Julián de los Prados is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Basilica of San Julián de los Prados → Eglise et Monastère de San Salvador is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Eglise et Monastère de San Salvador → La Foncalada is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
La Foncalada → Santa Cristina de Lena is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Santa Cristina de Lena → back through La Foncalada is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through La Foncalada → back through Eglise et Monastère de San Salvador is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Eglise et Monastère de San Salvador → back through Basilica of San Julián de los Prados is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Basilica of San Julián de los Prados → Eglise San Salvador is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.