Why this ride
A 254 km round trip from Puente Viesgo - roughly 3 h 56 in the saddle. The stops in between: La Garma, Covalanas, Eglise Santa Maria de la Asuncion and back through Covalanas. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Monte Castillo - Las Chimeneas and Eglise Santa Maria de la Asuncion
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 254 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 56
- 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 - Las Chimeneas
Everyone talks about Altamira, but Monte Castillo has a better claim to the title of Europe's oldest gallery. El Castillo, the cave that gives the hill its name, contains a red disc that was dated in 2012 to more than forty thousand years ago, which makes it among the oldest known cave paintings anywhere. Las Chimeneas, the cave marked here, is one of its neighbours inside the same hill, and the whole mountain is a kind of honeycomb of Ice Age art.
Read the complete Monte Castillo - Las Chimeneas write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Monte Castillo - Las Chimeneas 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 37 km into the recorded legs. Next is Covalanas.
3. Covalanas
Covalanas is known as the cave of the red deer. Its walls carry red ochre paintings of hinds, drawn in a distinctive dotted technique, and they are among the finest Palaeolithic paintings in the Cantabrian region. The cave sits on a steep, wooded hillside above Ramales de la Victoria, in eastern Cantabria, and it was one of the first painted caves to be recognised in Spain, in the early twentieth century. It is part of the UNESCO-listed Cave of Altamira and Palaeolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain, and visits are limited to small groups, so booking ahead is advisable.
Read the complete Covalanas write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 81 km into the recorded legs you reach Covalanas. Next is Eglise Santa Maria de la Asuncion.
4. Eglise Santa Maria de la Asuncion
Castro-Urdiales has one of the best harbour fronts on the whole Cantabrian coast, and it knows it. The Gothic church of Santa María de la Asunción stands on a rocky headland above the old port, its buttresses and pinnacles silhouetted against the sea, flanked by the remains of a castle that now holds a lighthouse and by a medieval bridge leading to a little chapel on a rock. Built from the thirteenth century onward, the church is one of the finest Gothic buildings in northern Spain, and it lies on the coastal route of the Way of Saint James, which is part of a UNESCO listing that covers the pilgrimage roads of the north.
Read the complete Eglise Santa Maria de la Asuncion write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Eglise Santa Maria de la Asuncion, about halfway. Next is back through Covalanas.
5. back through Covalanas
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Covalanas write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Covalanas sits at 144 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 219 km into the recorded legs. Next is Monte Castillo - Las Chimeneas.
7. Monte Castillo - Las Chimeneas
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Monte Castillo - Las Chimeneas write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Monte Castillo - Las Chimeneas closes the day.
Leg by leg
Monte Castillo - Las Chimeneas to La Garma
Monte Castillo - Las Chimeneas → La Garma is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
La Garma to Covalanas
La Garma → Covalanas is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Covalanas to Eglise Santa Maria de la Asuncion
Covalanas → Eglise Santa Maria de la Asuncion is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Eglise Santa Maria de la Asuncion to back through Covalanas
Eglise Santa Maria de la Asuncion → back through Covalanas is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Covalanas to back through La Garma
back through Covalanas → back through La Garma is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through La Garma to Monte Castillo - Las Chimeneas
back through La Garma → Monte Castillo - Las Chimeneas is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.