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CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE

Santa Cristina de Lena and La Peña de Candamo

Plan this ride

Recorded distance
136 km
Riding-time estimate
2 h 20
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.

Open this ride in CurveScout

Why this ride

From Pola de Lena it runs 136 km to Pola de Lena; allow about 2 h 20 of riding. On the way it passes Cámara Santa de Oviedo, La Peña de Candamo and back through Cámara Santa de Oviedo. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,250 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

  1. 1. Santa Cristina de Lena

    On a grassy knoll above the Lena valley, south of Oviedo, stands a tiny stone church that has watched over the main road between Asturias and Castile for more than a thousand years. Santa Cristina de Lena is one of the jewels of Asturian pre-Romanesque architecture, built in the ninth century when the little Christian kingdom of Asturias was the only part of Iberia outside Muslim rule. Its unusual plan, with a raised presbytery behind an arcade of carved arches, and its finely worked stone screens are unique. Together with Santa María del Naranco and San Miguel de Lillo in Oviedo, it is part of a World Heritage listing.

    Read the complete Santa Cristina de Lena write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Santa Cristina de Lena is where the day begins. Next is Cámara Santa de Oviedo.

  2. 2. Cámara Santa de Oviedo

    Oviedo is a surprise, a small, green, rainy capital with an almost Alpine smell of woodsmoke and a history that begins with a king. In the early ninth century Alfonso II, called the Chaste, moved his court here and began building churches in a style now called Asturian pre-Romanesque, which is unlike anything else in Spain, with tall narrow proportions, round arches and decorated stone. The Cámara Santa is a chapel inside the cathedral of San Salvador, built to protect relics and treasures, and it still holds the Cross of the Angels, dated to 808, and the Cross of Victory, which belonged to the later king Alfonso III and became the emblem of Asturias. UNESCO included the city's early monuments in its list in 1985.

    Read the complete Cámara Santa de Oviedo write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Cámara Santa de Oviedo comes up about 36 km into the recorded legs. Next is La Peña de Candamo.

  3. 3. La Peña de Candamo

    In the hills above the Nalón valley in Asturias, a cave hides one of the great collections of Paleolithic art in Spain. The Cueva de la Peña de Candamo, near San Román de Candamo, was discovered in 1914 and contains paintings and engravings of horses, bison, deer, goats and other animals, made during the Upper Paleolithic, and a remarkable wall of engraved figures. It is part of the UNESCO listing of cave art in northern Spain, and unlike some other caves, it can be visited, though only in limited numbers and for part of the year, so book ahead.

    Read the complete La Peña de Candamo write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    about 68 km into the recorded legs you reach La Peña de Candamo. Next is back through Cámara Santa de Oviedo.

  4. 4. back through Cámara Santa de Oviedo

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Cámara Santa de Oviedo write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    back through Cámara Santa de Oviedo, late in the day. Next is Santa Cristina de Lena.

  5. 5. Santa Cristina de Lena

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Santa Cristina de Lena write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Back at Santa Cristina de Lena. That is the ride.

Leg by leg

Santa Cristina de Lena to Cámara Santa de Oviedo

Santa Cristina de Lena → Cámara Santa de Oviedo is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Cámara Santa de Oviedo to La Peña de Candamo

Cámara Santa de Oviedo → La Peña de Candamo is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

La Peña de Candamo to back through Cámara Santa de Oviedo

La Peña de Candamo → back through Cámara Santa de Oviedo is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Cámara Santa de Oviedo to Santa Cristina de Lena

back through Cámara Santa de Oviedo → Santa Cristina de Lena is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

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