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 Posada de Valdeón it runs 361 km to Posada de Valdeón; allow about 7 h 06 of riding. On the way it passes Eglise San Salvador, Santa Cristina de Lena and back through Eglise San Salvador. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,350 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
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.
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 is where the day begins. Next is Eglise San Salvador.
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 comes up about 106 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 180 km into the recorded legs you reach Santa Cristina de Lena. Next is back through 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 through Eglise San Salvador, late in the day. Next is 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 at Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Cuesta Fria. That is the ride.
Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Cuesta Fria → Eglise San Salvador is 106 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Eglise San Salvador → Santa Cristina de Lena is 74 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Santa Cristina de Lena → back through Eglise San Salvador is 74 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through 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.