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 Potes it runs 346 km to Potes; allow about 4 h 29 of riding. It goes by way of Tito Bustillo, Basilica of San Julián de los Prados and back through Tito Bustillo. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,300 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 94 km this is Picos de Europa Loop, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Liébana is a green bowl surrounded by mountains, a valley system in south-west Cantabria with the town of Potes at its centre and the limestone towers of the Picos de Europa rising to the north and west. On a hillside above Potes, among oak and chestnut woods, stands the monastery of Santo Toribio, one of the holy places of Christian Spain. It keeps the Lignum Crucis, said to be the largest surviving fragment of the True Cross, and for that reason it holds a jubilee year whenever the feast of Saint Toribio, the sixteenth of April, falls on a Sunday.
Read the complete Monastère de Santo Toribio de Liébana write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Monastère de Santo Toribio de Liébana is where the day begins. Next is Tito Bustillo.
In 1968, a group of young cavers from Ribadesella found their way into a cave system beneath the Ardines hill, just outside the town, and stumbled upon an extraordinary gallery of Palaeolithic art: horses, deer and reindeer, painted in red and black, along with strange red symbols that some interpret as female figures. One of the group, Celestino Fernández Bustillo, known as Tito, died in a mountain accident a few days later, and the cave was named in his honour. Tito Bustillo is one of the most important painted caves in Europe, and it is part of the UNESCO listing of Cave of Altamira and Palaeolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain. Visits are limited in number and season to protect the art, and booking in advance is essential.
Read the complete Tito Bustillo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Tito Bustillo comes up about 94 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 173 km into the recorded legs you reach Basilica of San Julián de los Prados. Next is back through Tito Bustillo.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tito Bustillo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Tito Bustillo, late in the day. Next is Monastère de Santo Toribio de Liébana.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Monastère de Santo Toribio de Liébana write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Monastère de Santo Toribio de Liébana. That is the ride.
Monastère de Santo Toribio de Liébana → Tito Bustillo is 94 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tito Bustillo → Basilica of San Julián de los Prados is 79 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Basilica of San Julián de los Prados → back through Tito Bustillo is 79 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Tito Bustillo → Monastère de Santo Toribio de Liébana is 95 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.