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.
388 km from Potes to Potes, about 3 h of riding. It goes by way of Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Canal de Asot, Llonín, Covaciella and back through Llonín. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,350 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 63 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 Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Canal de Asot.
Valdeón is the valley people forget to mention when they talk about the Picos de Europa, and that is a mistake. On the southern side of the range, in the province of León, it is a deep green bowl ringed by limestone peaks, with the village of Posada de Valdeón at its heart. The beech forests on its slopes, including those in the side valley known as the Canal de Asotín, are part of the UNESCO site of the Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe, a transnational listing that grew to include several forests in Spain. Walking in them in autumn, when the leaves turn copper and gold and the ground is soft with moss, is unforgettable.
Read the complete Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Canal de Asot write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Canal de Asot comes up about 63 km into the recorded legs. Next is Llonín.
The cave of Llonín is not one you can walk into. It sits in the valley of the river Cares in Peñamellera Alta, in the far east of Asturias, and it is one of the decorated Palaeolithic caves of northern Spain listed by UNESCO alongside Altamira. Its walls hold engravings and paintings of deer, goats and other animals, and the cave has been studied by archaeologists for decades, but access is restricted to protect the art. What you get instead is the landscape that sheltered those artists, and that is very much worth the trip.
Read the complete Llonín write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 168 km into the recorded legs you reach Llonín. Next is Covaciella.
Between the coastal town of Llanes and the high limestone walls of the Picos de Europa, a small cave near Carreña de Cabrales holds images that have been in the dark for something like fifteen thousand years. Covaciella was only found in the 1990s, and its paintings of bison, horses and deer, in black and red, are among the finest examples of Palaeolithic art in Asturias. It was added to the UNESCO listing of the Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain in 2008. The cave is closed to the public to protect the paintings, but the nearby interpretation centre explains what is inside and why it matters.
Read the complete Covaciella write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Covaciella, about halfway. Next is back through Llonín.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Llonín write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Llonín sits at 116 km, about halfway. Next is back through Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Canal de Asot.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Canal de Asot write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Canal de Asot comes up about 315 km into the recorded legs. 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.
Monastère de Santo Toribio de Liébana closes the day.
Monastère de Santo Toribio de Liébana → Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Canal de Asot is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Canal de Asot → Llonín is 105 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Llonín → Covaciella is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Covaciella → back through Llonín is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Llonín → back through Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Canal de Asot is 94 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Canal de Asot → Monastère de Santo Toribio de Liébana is 73 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.