Table of contents
Daams
11 pictures
Daams
1/11
Motorcycle tour through Spain. Explore Asturias by motorcycle. Image: Ensuring a good mood: Serpentine near Sotres.
Daams
2/11
Picture-book streets between Sotres and Tresviso.
Daams
3/11
Old stone bridge near Sotres.
Daams
4/11
Harbor bar “Chigre ’l Corquieu” in Ribadesella.
Daams
5/11
Unforgettable: by motorcycle through the stalactite cave La Cuevona.
Daams
6/11
Enjoy the blue hour in sight of the imposing Basilica of Covadonga.
Daams
7/11
Providing pleasure for the senses: off-road passages on Lago de Enol.
Daams
8/11
Garden by (and with) Amalia Sanchez in Bejes.
Daams
9/11
Playa Arroyo Gandarias beach.
Daams
10/11
Motorcycle tour in Spain: duration 6 days, covered distance 1200 kilometers
Daams
11/11
The picture-book street between Sotres and Tresviso sticks close to the slope, which cuts a fine figure even in foggy conditions.
to travel
Motorcycling on the Spanish Atlantic coast – Asturias
Motorcycle tour in Asturias: Picos de Europa
Motorcycling on the Spanish Atlantic coast
Mountains by the sea are great for a motorcycle trip – but unfortunately not so often between the North Cape and Gibraltar. One of the exceptions: the Picos de Europa, over 2600 meters high, on the Spanish Atlantic coast. Come with us on tour in the curve carousel!
Klaus H. Daams
25.10.2012
Great. The 27 kilometers through rush hour could have been saved. Completely in vain is the “close combat” in the narrow gorge between Panes and Potes, the constant peeking for a gap in tourist rush hour traffic that struggles between towering cliffs. But who likes to gamble away the pole position they have just won by simply stopping for a moment for orientation? Then it would have become much more clear that we missed the inconspicuous junction to Cangas de Onís to the stage destination and location for the next few days. What is now not the world, but only the sun sets, behind the peaks of the Picos de Europa in the border area of the neighboring provinces of Asturias and Cantabria. A gigantic accumulation of stone pointed caps: 200 mountains over 2000 meters, due to the proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, which is only 30 kilometers away, height differences of up to 2300 meters – a rocky bastion, formed by wind and water over millions of years, really great. It is more pleasure than frustration to whiz back to Panes, through the narrow Desfiladero de la Hermida, carved into the rock by the Rio Deva, where there is no ray of sunshine all day in winter. It’s a shame, however, when hungry guests in the land of toreros don’t get a scrap of meat. Instead, Batu, the motorcycle enthusiast host of the hotel “La Ablaneda” in Soto de Cangas, serves a big cake, totally sweet, to celebrate the day.
Buy complete article
Motorcycle tour in Asturias: Picos de Europa
Motorcycling on the Spanish Atlantic coast
8 pages) as PDF
€ 2.00
Buy now
A ravine rarely comes alone in the mountains, so the next day we wiggle on the N 625 through the Desfiladero de los Beyos, perfect resonance surfaces for the sound waves from the sound-optimized exhaust systems of Batus Harley Cross Bones and my GS. Every now and then a chain dog feels animated to come yapping into the concert. How trout and salmon react in the crystal clear Sella that flows alongside the road is beyond observation because of the curvy route that demands all concentration. After all, during a break at the top of the pass at Puerto del Pontón, Batu reports that on the wild Sella a little further downstream, between Arrion-das and the destination in Ribadesella, more than a thousand canoes from all over the world race every year on the first Saturday in August start, cheered on by twice as many spectators as in the Spanish MotoGP.
In the next section, leaves and twigs clap the hand protectors. You go through dense green on a narrow strip of asphalt via Posada de Valdeón to Caín. The jungle-like flora is dominated by the mightiest picos in the region, the boss in the ring is the Torre Cerredo at 2,648 meters. Golden eagles and griffon vultures nest in the rock faces, while secluded valleys and forests are home to brown bears and wolves. Master Isegrim used to be traditionally hunted here by unmarried men; On the one hand, this resulted in fewer widows and, on the other hand, a certain wedding boost. Feet as small as possible are helpful in tough everyday mountain life in order to be sure-footed like the chamois. 1200 meters high the rock on one side of the path, on the other similarly deep downhill, and hardly any orientation points in fog – “there you can loose yourself very easy”, Batu comments laconically. It is easy to lose track of things underground, too: The Picos de Europa is traversed by a widely ramified cave system; at 19 kilometers, La Red de Toneyo is the longest, and at 1589 meters, the Torca del Cerro del Cuevón is the deepest of the caves discovered so far.
Daams
Motorcycle tour through Spain. Explore Asturias by motorcycle. Image: Ensuring a good mood: Serpentine near Sotres.
A glorious ray of light on the sun-shaded terrace of the “Casa Cuevas” restaurant in the little village of Caín: an opulent ham, salami and cheese platter. Since you don’t get far with the proverbial 1000 steps after eating, at least not twelve kilometers through the Desfiladero del Cares from Caín to Poncebos, famous as a spectacular hiking route, there is probably only one alternative: to make yourself as comfortable as possible in the motorcycle saddle and the north side of the deeply cut gorge (it separates the western part from the main part of the Picos) on a 100-kilometer detour via small, winding and driving pleasure-intensive country roads.
LE 243, N 621, AS 114, Portilla de la Reina, Potes, Panes, Soto de Cangas – these are in keywords the stations of an entertaining afternoon to fill yourself up, when at least the tire flanks are diligently walking. The round can be extended by various cul-de-sac roads: to the Mirador de Llesba with its panoramic view of Kaventsmanner made of karst limestone, to Fuente De to the cable car up to the Mirador del Cable – and finally to Poncebos, where physically fit people can be collected again, those from Caín marched out on foot through the Desfiladero de Cares. The crowning glory is the corkscrew road to the mountain lakes above Covadonga. Conveniently, it leads directly past our quarters and thus gives a lot of joy late in the evening as well as in the early morning. Our guide Batu is only to be envied for such a home route.
It starts at the Marian Pilgrimage Church and Holy Grotto in Covadonga, deeply venerated by the Spaniards as the origin of the Reconquista, the reconquest of the country from the Moors that began in 718. Leaving buses and devotional objects behind, you can then storm skyward for twelve winding kilometers; if you are too cocky, the front wheel will quickly detach from the bumpy surface. But be careful: This is the entrance to the Picos de Europa National Park, and between July 20th and September 9th, private traffic is only allowed before 8.30 a.m. and after 8 p.m. No more fun rotating wheels on Lago de Enol and Lago de la Ercina. In the national park, 2500 cows and their calves graze on the alpine meadows around the two mountain lakes. If they are slaughtered after a few weeks, the cows bleat three days after their missing children. “A very sad moment,” says Baku.
From the lakes to the sea. La Tornería – the turned one – is what the Asturians call the road that winds through Mere and El Mazuco through the Sierra de Cuera down to the Costa Verde. The mountains are no longer as striking and rugged as before, but there is a view to melt away when the light blue of the sky is married to the dark blue of the sea – except in fog, of course. Bringing plenty of color into play in the port of Llanes, colorfully painted concrete blocks, the “Cubes of Memory” by the artist Agustín Ibarrola. Unforgettable for surfers and bathers alike is the beach of San Antolín, where the tide gurgles through a hole in the rock the size of a ferry hatch. Beaches also rarely come alone: Playa de Guadamía near Llanes is likely to be remembered by those who are unfamiliar with the area and who stood in a meadow on the steep bank looking for access to the secret sandpit. On the other hand, the motorcycle meeting places are rather rare in the region, the only known address in Ribadesella is the small Celtic harbor bar “Chigre’ l Corquieu “.
Daams
Providing pleasure for the senses: off-road passages on Lago de Enol.
The stalactite cave La Cuevona near Cuevas is unique. A public road meanders 250 meters through the bizarre, atmospherically illuminated underworld. Sensational. As you drive through, you feel like Captain Ahab sliding through Moby Dick’s digestive tract. Which brings us, what an elegant transition, to the evening meal. That is what gives us the acquaintance of so-called gulas, a surrogate for expensive glass eels made from fish protein; So that it looks real, the fake young eels are even painted two dots as eyes. Well, meal!
And what else does the menu have to offer? Well, first an appetizing, green-yellow road worm from Arriondas via the Mirador del Fito to Colunga, then, following the sandy beach-mountain panorama and “seafood mountains” in Lastres, two more stretches from the Asturian lucky bag: the AS 332 from Villaviciosa towards Infiesto and the AS 339 to Cazo. Trumpet trees, lemons and palm trees, wild ponies and proud roosters, granaries resting on pillars, so-called Hórreos, which look like the chicken-leg house of the witch Baba Jaga, and somewhere a Django-compatible church tower whose bells have long since faded away. Enough of the impressions. And that with “Stadt, Land, Fluss” the letter S doesn’t always have to be Stuttgart or Salzburg, there is a secluded place that is guaranteed not to be on the list: Sobrefoz.
As varied as a game through the hilly surrounding area is, somehow we are drawn back to the Picos, to the cathedrals of the Cordilleras. As if one could simply tear down rock like a large piece of paper, the wild, jagged ridge line of the mountains spans the road from Sotres to Tresviso, which sticks to the slope. With the throttle valve wide open again and again, the 1200 has increased dramatically in altitude. An eagle soaring above the valley must feel almost exactly the same, except that it cannot locate just horses and cows in toy size, like us, but also rabbits and mice. The cheese village Arenas de Cabrales, a serpentine dangling to Camarmena and a power plant operated by E.ON on the reservoir near Poncebos are long behind us. Those who are allowed to go there on business can only be congratulated. The end of the line is in Tresviso, for some at the cemetery with its vaulted graves, for all others in the bar “La Taberna”. If you stay there long enough, the question of how, for heaven’s sake, the flower pots attached high up to a windowless house wall is watered, whether pragmatically through the next rain or through a well-aimed jet of water like the artistic filling of glasses in a cidreria. Boldly bought a decent piece of spicy Queso de Cabrales – the blue cheese is so ripe that it has to be prevented from galloping away by being wrapped in a plastic cover, and then back to Soto de Cangas in a quick glide down.
Time to rush through the Desfiladero de la Hermida again after some abstinence, unfortunately today for the last time and fully loaded with luggage for the journey home. But what are all the colorful shirts in the suitcase compared to the colorful garden of Amalia Sanchez in Bejes. Actually, we only went to the mountain nest to delay saying goodbye to the Picos, the greater the joy about the floral finale. Amalia also seems to enjoy the visit. Presumably only the usual pictures for the family album have been taken of her so far, maybe she feels seen with different eyes by the strange photographer in her smock apron.
Daams
Unforgettable: by motorcycle through the stalactite cave La Cuevona.
We like to see something like that: from Beje back into the valley and on the other side of the Rio Deva over the Collado de Hoz to Puentenansa. The pass is only 658 meters high, but what does that mean? For us it would be an ingenious hill climb route – and has long been closed to motorcycles. Anyone who likes Atlantic waves will find a windswept area east of San Vicente along the CA 236. The situation is similar at Playa Arroyo Gandarias near Ruiloba, where the tide throws itself against the cliffs like a drooling fury. Later, art-loving minds marvel at the cylindrical tower of the El Capricho palace by Antoni Gaudí. And that is the end of the fun, adiós Picos!
Info
Daams
Travel time: 6 days. Distance covered: 1200 kilometers.
The 2600 meter high -Picos de Europa, the peaks of Europe, belong to the Cantabrian Cordilleras in northern Spain and extend over the provinces of Asturias, Cantabria and Castile-León. Those who have ridden themselves hot on the summit carousel or even hiked – the Picos de Europa are the oldest national park in Spain and can cool off on the nearby beaches of the Atlantic.
Getting there:
So far so good. From Dusseldorf to Cangas de Onís, for example, it is around 1,640 kilometers on the French and Spanish toll highways via Paris, Bordeaux, Bilbao and Santander. Alternatively, there is the motorail train (www.dbautozug.de), which connects various German terminals with Narbonne in the south of France. From there it is about 820 kilometers to the destination via Toulouse and Bayonne. Instead of driving around the Pyrenees to the north, you can also cross them in a curvy way and then, avoiding the motorway on the Atlantic coast, continue straight on through the mountainous hinterland to the Picos.
Travel time:
The Atlantic with its oceanic climate ensures moderate temperatures even in midsummer, no comparison to the Spanish Mediterranean coast. In July and August, the core area of the Picos de Europa National Park is not exactly a zone where hikers and climbers are not free, so June and September are recommended as the ideal months to travel.
Overnight stays:
If you don’t want to keep moving, you can choose a permanent accommodation for day trips without luggage. If this is to be both close to nature and blessed with a minimum of urban diversity around it – i.e. not because of the beautiful but lonely ass of the mountains, then Potes, Arenas de Cabrales and Cangas de Onís are the larger places. Not far from the latter, the author was comfortably accommodated on the tour described in the hotel “La Ablaneda”, run by Harley fan Batu, AS 262 / km 1 (road to Covadonga), E-33589 Soto de Cangas, phone 00 34/9 85 94 02 45, www.ablaneda.com, double rooms from 60 euros. For six euros per person, a very sweet breakfast is offered for some tastes, which can be supplemented with sausage or cheese if necessary.
Worth seeing and experiencing:
For a tire-friendly pastime, we recommend: Desfiladero de Cares, a twelve-kilometer-long, spectacular gorge between Caín and Poncebos that makes hikers’ hearts beat faster. From Fuente De you can comfortably take the cable car to the El Cable mountain station and enjoy a great view of the Picos. No eye remains dry on a canoe tour on the Sella (www.sellastur.com, www.canoasoriente.wordpress.com, www.piraguismo.com). Water in a completely different form characterizes the stalactite cave La Cuevona near Cuevas, which, almost unique in the world, can even be passed through. The precious prehistoric wall paintings in the Tito Bustillo and Altamira caves date from the time when the wheel was not yet invented. Covadonga, the place of pilgrimage and cradle of the Spanish Reconquista, as well as the Gaudí city of Comillas are also “oozing” with culture.
Daams
Harbor bar “Chigre ’l Corquieu” in Ribadesella.
Literature and Maps:
Although not exclusively about the Picos de Europa, the volume “Nordspanien” from Michael Muller Verlag provides comprehensive information on the subject for 20.90 euros. Sheet 572 “Asturias, Cantabria” by Michelin on a scale of 1: 250,000 for 7.50 euros is suitable as a road map. Even more precise is from the Zoom series from Michelin sheet 142 “Asturias, Costa Verde” on a scale of 1: 150,000 for 7.50 euros.
Addresses:
Spanish Tourist Office, Myliusstrabe 14, 60323 Frankfurt am Main, phone 01 80/3 00 26 47, frankfurt@tourspain.es, www.spain.info
Related articles
-
Tour tip: Motorcycling in the Black Forest
Iron ham 17th pictures Iron ham 1/17 Motorbike tour in the Black Forest: It cannot be emphasized enough: The attraction of riding a roller coaster on a…
-
Motorcycle trip along the North Sea coast
Daams 17th pictures Daams 1/17 Always in the sights of the two-wheeler captains: lighthouses in all colors, shapes and facets. Daams 2/17 South of the…
-
On the way: Enduro tour along the Turkish west coast
shepherd 23 pictures shepherd 1/23 When the little hunger comes: Gozleme fills the stomach magnificently. shepherd 2/23 Panorama wallpaper: Before…
-
On the move: Spain from north to south
Deleker 15th pictures Deleker 1/15 With the motorcycle across Spain, a trip with many highlights. Deleker 2/15 Ready for a movie: Spain’s castles are…
-
Iron ham to travel Baltic coast Baltic coast Northern Riviera Curves and passes? You will search in vain on the German Baltic coast. Nevertheless, the…
-
Motorcycle trip to the Sierra Nevada (Spain)
Daams Klaus H. 12th pictures Daams Klaus H. 1/12 In the highest mountains of the Iberian Peninsula, the sky is quite close, and the built-up Costa del…
-
Motorcycle trip to the Sibillini Mountains in Italy
Daams 23 pictures Daams 1/23 Grasses in the evening breeze: like the hair of young fairies (or Silvio’s playmates …) Daams 2/23 Pilgrimage site: Sunday…
-
Motorcycle trip on Croatia’s Adriatic coast
Iron ham to travel Motorcycle trip on Croatia’s Adriatic coast Motorcycle trip on Croatia’s Adriatic coast Fantastic coastal roads and island trips…
-
Motorbike tour through Carinthia
Daams 14th pictures Daams 1/14 Every meter of the alpine road is painstakingly punched into the field. Daams 2/14 Carinthia: Wonderful curves near clear…
-
Deleker 14th pictures Deleker 1/14 Once across: exploring the French and Spanish Pyrenees. Deleker 2/14 Explore the Pyrenees adventurously on gravel…