Why this ride
A 200 km round trip from Entrambasaguas - roughly 4 h 04 in the saddle. The stops in between: El Pendo, Collégiale de Santa Juliana et son Cloître, Hornos de la Peña and Altamira.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
La Garma and Altamira
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 200 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 04
- 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 Collégiale de Santa Juliana et son Cloître.
3. Collégiale de Santa Juliana et son Cloître
The saying goes that Santillana del Mar is the town of three lies, since it is not holy, not flat and has no sea, and the truth is that it is none of those things and one of the prettiest villages in northern Spain. The name comes from Santa Juliana, a martyr whose relics are kept in the collegiate church, and the town grew up around the monastery that held them in the early Middle Ages. Stone houses with carved coats of arms, wooden balconies and cobbled streets line the main road, and cows still wander through the lanes at times.
Read the complete Collégiale de Santa Juliana et son Cloître write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 53 km into the recorded legs you reach Collégiale de Santa Juliana et son Cloître. Next is Hornos de la Peña.
4. Hornos de la Peña
Above the village of San Felices de Buelna, on a limestone hillside in the Besaya valley of Cantabria, a cave called Hornos de la Peña holds engravings made by Palaeolithic hunters. The most famous is the outline of a horse, scratched into the rock thousands of years ago, along with other animals and signs that take time and a good guide to pick out. The cave is one of the seventeen in northern Spain listed by UNESCO alongside Altamira, and visits are limited and guided, so check ahead rather than simply turning up.
Read the complete Hornos de la Peña write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hornos de la Peña, about halfway. Next is Altamira.
5. 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 sits at 90 km, about halfway. Next is back through Hornos de la Peña.
6. back through Hornos de la Peña
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hornos de la Peña write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Hornos de la Peña comes up about 121 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Collégiale de Santa Juliana et son Cloître.
7. back through Collégiale de Santa Juliana et son Cloître
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Collégiale de Santa Juliana et son Cloître write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 143 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Collégiale de Santa Juliana et son Cloître. Next is back through El Pendo.
8. 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, late in the day. Next is La Garma.
9. 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
The route ends here after 200 km.
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 Collégiale de Santa Juliana et son Cloître
El Pendo → Collégiale de Santa Juliana et son Cloître is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Collégiale de Santa Juliana et son Cloître to Hornos de la Peña
Collégiale de Santa Juliana et son Cloître → Hornos de la Peña is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hornos de la Peña to Altamira
Hornos de la Peña → Altamira is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Altamira to back through Hornos de la Peña
Altamira → back through Hornos de la Peña is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hornos de la Peña to back through Collégiale de Santa Juliana et son Cloître
back through Hornos de la Peña → back through Collégiale de Santa Juliana et son Cloître is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Collégiale de Santa Juliana et son Cloître to back through El Pendo
back through Collégiale de Santa Juliana et son Cloître → back through El Pendo is 27 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 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.