Why this ride
From Entrambasaguas it runs 246 km to Entrambasaguas; allow about 3 h 35 of riding. The stops in between: El Pendo, Chemin de la Liébana, Altamira and back through Chemin de la Liébana.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
La Garma and Altamira starting at Entrambasaguas
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 246 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 35
- 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. La Garma
La Garma is a low limestone hill a few kilometres inland from the Bay of Santander, green with meadows and oak scrub, the sort of rounded Cantabrian hump you might ride past without a second glance. Inside it lies one of the most important prehistoric caves in Europe. Found by chance in the 1990s, the cave of La Garma contains not just paintings but preserved living floors from the Palaeolithic: hearths, bones, tools and the outlines of shelters left exactly as they were when a rockfall sealed the entrance thousands of years ago. It forms part of the UNESCO site of the Cave of Altamira and Palaeolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain.
Read the complete La Garma write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
La Garma is where the day begins. Next is El Pendo.
2. El Pendo
In 1997, in a cave that people had been visiting for over a century, a group of researchers noticed paintings that everyone had walked past: a frieze of red figures, deer, horses and goats, high on a wall in the main chamber. El Pendo, in the municipality of Camargo just south of Santander, had long been known for its deep layers of Stone Age occupation, but the frieze made it one of the important painted caves of Cantabria, and in 2008 it joined the World Heritage listing of the Paleolithic cave art of northern Spain alongside Altamira.
Read the complete El Pendo write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
El Pendo comes up about 28 km into the recorded legs. Next is Chemin de la Liébana.
3. 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 85 km into the recorded legs you reach Chemin de la Liébana. Next is Altamira.
4. Altamira
In 1879 a nine-year-old girl named María was exploring a cave near Santillana del Mar with her father, Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola, an amateur archaeologist. While he dug in the floor, she looked up at the ceiling and saw painted animals. The bison of Altamira, painted in red and black on the uneven rock so that their bodies seem to swell and move in the flickering light, are among the greatest works of prehistoric art in the world. When Sautuola published his discovery, most experts refused to believe that cavemen could have produced such sophisticated paintings, and he was accused of fraud. He died before he was vindicated; only after similar paintings were found in France did the leading sceptic, Émile Cartailhac, publish a famous apology. Altamira was listed by UNESCO in 1985.
Read the complete Altamira write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Altamira, about halfway. Next is back through Chemin de la Liébana.
5. back through Chemin de la Liébana
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Chemin de la Liébana write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Chemin de la Liébana sits at 144 km, about halfway. Next is back through El Pendo.
6. back through El Pendo
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete El Pendo write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through El Pendo comes up about 217 km into the recorded legs. Next is La Garma.
7. La Garma
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete La Garma write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
La Garma closes the day.
Leg by leg
La Garma to El Pendo
La Garma → El Pendo is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
El Pendo to Chemin de la Liébana
El Pendo → Chemin de la Liébana is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Chemin de la Liébana to Altamira
Chemin de la Liébana → Altamira is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Altamira to back through Chemin de la Liébana
Altamira → back through Chemin de la Liébana is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Chemin de la Liébana to back through El Pendo
back through Chemin de la Liébana → back through El Pendo is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through El Pendo to La Garma
back through El Pendo → La Garma is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.