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.
522 km from Ribadesella to Ribadesella, about 10 h 48 of riding. The stops in between: Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Cuesta Fria, Monastère de Santo Toribio de Liébana, Chemin de la Liébana and Hornos de la Peña. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,350 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 89 km this is Picos de Europa Loop, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
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 is where the day begins. Next is Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Cuesta Fria.
The beech forests of Cuesta Fría cling to the north-facing slopes of the Valdeón valley, on the León side of the Picos de Europa, where the limestone mountains rise abruptly above the green of the Cantabrian coast. They are part of a group of old beech woods across Europe that UNESCO recognised for their natural value, because the trees here have grown with little human interference for a very long time. Posada de Valdeón, a village of a few hundred people, lies about five kilometres away.
Read the complete Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Cuesta Fria write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Cuesta Fria comes up about 89 km into the recorded legs. Next is Monastère de Santo Toribio de Liébana.
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.
about 157 km into the recorded legs you reach Monastère de Santo Toribio de Liébana. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Chemin de la Liébana, about halfway. Next is Hornos de la Peña.
Above the village of San Felices de Buelna, on a limestone hillside in the Besaya valley of Cantabria, a cave called Hornos de la Peña holds engravings made by Palaeolithic hunters. The most famous is the outline of a horse, scratched into the rock thousands of years ago, along with other animals and signs that take time and a good guide to pick out. The cave is one of the seventeen in northern Spain listed by UNESCO alongside Altamira, and visits are limited and guided, so check ahead rather than simply turning up.
Read the complete Hornos de la Peña write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hornos de la Peña sits at 170 km, about halfway. Next is back through Chemin de la Liébana.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Chemin de la Liébana write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Chemin de la Liébana comes up about 311 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through 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.
about 366 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Monastère de Santo Toribio de Liébana. Next is back through Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Cuesta Fria.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Cuesta Fria write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Cuesta Fria, late in the day. Next is 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.
The route ends here after 522 km.
Tito Bustillo → Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Cuesta Fria is 89 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Cuesta Fria → Monastère de Santo Toribio de Liébana is 68 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Monastère de Santo Toribio de Liébana → Chemin de la Liébana is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Chemin de la Liébana → Hornos de la Peña is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hornos de la Peña → back through Chemin de la Liébana is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Chemin de la Liébana → back through Monastère de Santo Toribio de Liébana is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Monastère de Santo Toribio de Liébana → back through Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Cuesta Fria is 67 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hayedos de Picos de Europa - Cuesta Fria → Tito Bustillo is 89 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.