Why this ride
334 km from El Cobre to El Cobre, about 8 h 16 of riding. It goes by way of La Gran Piedra, Archaeological Landscape of the First Coff, Guantanamo and back through Archaeological Landscape of the First Coff.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
El Cobre and Guantanamo
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 334 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 8 h 16
- 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. El Cobre
Few places in Cuba matter as much to ordinary people as the little town of El Cobre, high on a hill about thirteen kilometres west of Santiago de Cuba. Its basilica, a yellow-and-white church with three domes standing against the green of the Sierra Maestra, holds the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre, the patron saint of Cuba, a small statue of the Virgin dressed in gold. Believers and non-believers alike treat her as a symbol of the nation, and the pilgrimage on her feast day, the eighth of September, draws crowds from across the island.
Read the complete El Cobre write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
El Cobre is where the day begins. Next is La Gran Piedra.
2. La Gran Piedra
La Gran Piedra means simply the Great Stone, and that is exactly what waits at the top: an enormous boulder sitting on the crest of the Sierra de la Gran Piedra, over twelve hundred metres above sea level and roughly twenty kilometres east of Santiago de Cuba. You climb several hundred stone steps from the road to reach it, and a metal ladder takes you onto the rock itself. On a clear morning the view runs over forested ridges to the Caribbean on one side and inland across the Sierra Maestra on the other, and people say that on the clearest nights you can see the lights of Jamaica and Haiti.
Read the complete La Gran Piedra write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
La Gran Piedra comes up about 43 km into the recorded legs. Next is Archaeological Landscape of the First Coff.
3. Archaeological Landscape of the First Coff
In the hills of southeastern Cuba, between Santiago and Guantánamo, the ruins of old coffee plantations lie hidden in the forest, and they tell a remarkable story. After the slave revolution in Saint-Domingue in the 1790s, which led to the independence of Haiti, many French planters fled to Cuba with their enslaved workers, and they introduced coffee growing on a large scale in the Sierra Maestra foothills. In the nineteenth century, hundreds of cafetales were established, with mansions, drying platforms, mills, aqueducts and slave quarters, using innovative techniques adapted to the steep mountain terrain. The Archaeological Landscape of the First Coffee Plantations in the South-East of Cuba was listed by UNESCO in 2000.
Read the complete Archaeological Landscape of the First Coff write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 117 km into the recorded legs you reach Archaeological Landscape of the First Coff. Next is Guantanamo.
4. Guantánamo
Most people know Guantánamo for two things: a song and a naval base. The song, Guantanamera, about a peasant girl from Guantánamo, became one of the most famous Cuban tunes in the world, with verses adapted from the poetry of José Martí. The base, leased to the United States since 1903 on the shores of Guantánamo Bay, is a separate, fenced enclave south of the city, and it is not a place you can visit. The city itself, in the far east of Cuba, is a sleepy provincial capital with a grid of low, colourful houses, a central square and a strong musical tradition. It is the birthplace of changüí, a rustic ancestor of son, played with tres guitar, bongos and marímbula.
Read the complete Guantanamo write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Guantanamo, about halfway. Next is back through Archaeological Landscape of the First Coff.
5. back through Archaeological Landscape of the First Coff
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Archaeological Landscape of the First Coff write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Archaeological Landscape of the First Coff sits at 156 km, about halfway. Next is back through La Gran Piedra.
6. back through La Gran Piedra
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete La Gran Piedra write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through La Gran Piedra comes up about 291 km into the recorded legs. Next is El Cobre.
7. El Cobre
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete El Cobre write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
El Cobre closes the day.
Leg by leg
El Cobre to La Gran Piedra
El Cobre → La Gran Piedra is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
La Gran Piedra to Archaeological Landscape of the First Coff
La Gran Piedra → Archaeological Landscape of the First Coff is 74 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Archaeological Landscape of the First Coff to Guantanamo
Archaeological Landscape of the First Coff → Guantanamo is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Guantánamo to back through Archaeological Landscape of the First Coff
Guantánamo → back through Archaeological Landscape of the First Coff is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Archaeological Landscape of the First Coff to back through La Gran Piedra
back through Archaeological Landscape of the First Coff → back through La Gran Piedra is 73 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through La Gran Piedra to El Cobre
back through La Gran Piedra → El Cobre is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.