Why this ride
245 km from Puente Viesgo to Puente Viesgo, about 3 h 44 of riding. The stops in between: La Garma, El Pendo, Chemin de la Liébana and back through El Pendo.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Monte Castillo - El Castillo and Chemin de la Liébana
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 245 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 44
- 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. Monte Castillo - El Castillo
Some of the oldest paintings in Europe sit in a hill above a village best known for its hot springs. The cave of El Castillo opens in the flank of Monte Castillo, right above Puente Viesgo in the Pas valley of Cantabria, and inside it are hand stencils and a red disc that scientists dated, in 2012, to more than forty thousand years ago. That makes them contenders for the oldest cave art known on the continent, and possibly older than any made by modern humans, since Neanderthals were around at the time. UNESCO lists the Cantabrian caves, and a visit means a guided group entering in small numbers, so book ahead and expect limits on the day.
Read the complete Monte Castillo - El Castillo write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Monte Castillo - El Castillo is where the day begins. Next is La Garma.
2. 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 comes up about 36 km into the recorded legs. Next is El Pendo.
3. 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
about 65 km into the recorded legs you reach El Pendo. Next is Chemin de la Liébana.
4. 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
Chemin de la Liébana, about halfway. Next is back through El Pendo.
5. 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 sits at 157 km, about halfway. Next is back through La Garma.
6. back through 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
back through La Garma comes up about 208 km into the recorded legs. Next is Monte Castillo - El Castillo.
7. Monte Castillo - El Castillo
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Monte Castillo - El Castillo write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Monte Castillo - El Castillo closes the day.
Leg by leg
Monte Castillo - El Castillo to La Garma
Monte Castillo - El Castillo → La Garma is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
La Garma to El Pendo
La Garma → El Pendo is 29 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 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Chemin de la Liébana to back through El Pendo
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 back through La Garma
back through El Pendo → back through La Garma is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through La Garma to Monte Castillo - El Castillo
back through La Garma → Monte Castillo - El Castillo is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.