Top Ten 'Must Do' places to visit or ride in the Picos and Cantabria Regions

For anyone wanting the Garmin codes for the Asturian coal mining trip mentioned earlier ... here they are.

I have tidied them up from the Google Maps one I posted earlier. It concentrates on the area around El Entrego then over the top to the Turon Valley, then a trip down a side valley. Then makes its way back to El Entrego. On the way back they take you past a driver training school which has an amazing test track etc. They do training for motorcycles there including some off-road stuff. Call in - they might let you play. Find out more here ... http://www.cisvial.es/instalaciones

I stayed at the Don Felix hotel in Rioseco, I can't praise it enough. Enjoy.:D
 

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Been looking at everybody's routes and suggestions and looking how to link them into some great days out.

Surprisingly not going to B&B it, as the place I will be staying at Santillana del Mar have agreed to give me another 5 nights at the low season rate saving me £200.00 :friday

£50 per night for a 2x double apartment with kitchen and large balcony is not to be sniffed at IMHO, could even invite friends along....

This makes my life really easy, as I can do day tours at ease and without much luggage. Saves me all the hassle of linking B&B/Hotels and worries about theft of possessions on a fully loaded bike. Also means that if I want to do an over-nighter we only need to pack a night bag :thumb2

I will now concentrate on 5 or so routes, incorporating everywhere that has been suggested. Pretty interesting for those that have iPads, in that the 3d satellite option on the maps application means that you can follow the roads as if on a helicopter. Good close up detail on most of the Picos and Cantabria areas.
 
If you get to the base of the cable car there's a type of green lane that meets up with another pass , it wasn't difficult as I managed it . It didn't take long and you pass through some beautiful mountain scenery .....

PS ..... It's marked on the map ..... :bounce1
 
Sir James said:
If you get to the base of the cable car there's a type of green lane that meets up with another pass , it wasn't difficult as I managed it . It didn't take long and you pass through some beautiful mountain scenery .....

PS ..... It's marked on the map ..... :bounce1
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:thumb2 Thank you for that, with most of the heavy luggage left at base in Santillana del Mar, it would be rude not to!

Any other recommendations for easy(ish) green roads and tracks linking places would be most welcome :cool:

Also been looking at tracks shown on this link on the tracks thread but most of those seem to be at the moderate (whatever that is) and the difficult/expert end of the scale. Probably going to be on Conti Trail Attack for this trip so mud and very rough ground is a bit of a no no really.http://en.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/user.do?id=26927
 
JohnnyBoxer said:
Accommodation

Google la Pisa about £55 half board superb place & the is simply stunning

Or if you want a top hotel - hotel de l'oso @ cosgaya - again stunning
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+1 on Hotel De L'oso: stayed there a number of times over the years and highly recommend it. You can make a take-away lunch up out of the breakfast buffet and the evening dinners are enormous.

View from a bedroom:
DVE_7856.jpg


R
 
Oh well, only another six weeks to go, time to resurect this thread and get my TYRE routes sorted. Thanks for all the input guys :thumb
 
Tusky said:
Oh well, only another six weeks to go, time to resurect this thread and get my TYRE routes sorted. Thanks for all the input guys :thumb
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Sunday night ferry from Plymouth to Santander for me, followed by two nights in Potes and then 10 nights around the classical cities in north :cool:

Heading down to the ferry the scenic route following the A483 through Wales for an overnight near Weston, before pottering down to Plymouth via Exmoor and Dartmoor on Sunday morning. Much better than an early morning dash down the M62/M6/M5 from Yorkshire.
 
sven said:
Sunday night ferry from Plymouth to Santander for me, followed by two nights in Potes and then 10 nights around the classical cities in north :cool:

Heading down to the ferry the scenic route following the A483 through Wales for an overnight near Weston, before pottering down to Plymouth via Exmoor and Dartmoor on Sunday morning. Much better than an early morning dash down the M62/M6/M5 from Yorkshire.
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Sounds good.... Which classical cities do you plan to visit?

Be sure to post your highlights and a few pics ;)
 
If you go for an overnight may I recommend you head west along the coast - the further west you go the less touristy it becomes.

Cudillero is a beautiful fishing village. Luaca is a proper working coastal town - lovely none the less.

Try the sea urchins washed down with Albarino. Or if you can reach Galicia try and find a traditional 'pulpo' restaurant, where they cook octopus in huge copper pressure cookers for 12hrs (order the day before) - gorgeous

Enjoy:thumb2
 
Sir James said:
If you get to the base of the cable car there's a type of green lane that meets up with another pass , it wasn't difficult as I managed it . It didn't take long and you pass through some beautiful mountain scenery .....

PS ..... It's marked on the map ..... :bounce1
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Yes.. that's a good trail for a GS but, sadly, no longer legal.. the last time I tried to ride it there was a Police Landrovers patrolling it.. so they obviously don't want any of our dirty, smelly infernal combustion engines polluting their National Park, do they? :forry
However, there's a trail that begins/ends in Espinama, just a mile down the road from Fuente De that takes you up to a high plateau and then down to the road just below Sotres. Amazingly, this one is still legal and I'd advise you to ride it ASAP, I'm sure they'll get round to closing it soon. There's a short, steep rocky bit at the Sotres end which is slightly challenging, so if you want to do it the easy was, start from Espinama. The map shows the trail with arrows denoting the correct route. All the other trails on there are now Pista Cortado!
 

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ballistic said:
Yes.. that's a good trail for a GS but, sadly, no longer legal.. the last time I tried to ride it there was a Police Landrovers patrolling it.. so they obviously don't want any of our dirty, smelly infernal combustion engines polluting their National Park, do they? :forry
However, there's a trail that begins/ends in Espinama, just a mile down the road from Fuente De that takes you up to a high plateau and then down to the road just below Sotres. Amazingly, this one is still legal and I'd advise you to ride it ASAP, I'm sure they'll get round to closing it soon. There's a short, steep rocky bit at the Sotres end which is slightly challenging, so if you want to do it the easy was, start from Espinama. The map shows the trail with arrows denoting the correct route. All the other trails on there are now Pista Cortado!
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I've heard reports on here that riding the Espinama - Sotres route could land you a 6000 Euro fine.... So I deleted it from my TYRE routes.... How clear is it as to what you can and can't ride?
 
Tusky said:
I've heard reports on here that riding the Espinama - Sotres route could land you a 6000 Euro fine.... So I deleted it from my TYRE routes.... How clear is it as to what you can and can't ride?
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Of course, it's possible that they have closed this route recently. The last time I did it was October 2011. We had lunch in the café in Sotres and got chatting to the owner, who just happened to have a nice new 1200GS sitting outside. He assured us that it was just about the only legal trail left in the area.. all the others were used by local 4x4s, who have to pay a fee. We certainly didn't see any signs, like this one on the trail from Sotres-Beges.
 

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That's pretty clear, thanks for that..... Will have an explore until I see a sign like that :thumb2
 
Got my TYRE routes all sorted, maps bought and got a lot more than 10 places on my list, so bring on the Picos, north Spanish Coast and surrounding areas :thumb

Thanks for the input one and all ;)
 
Number (1) on the list is going to have to be the roads.... Bloody amazing probably saw no more than 20 cars in 120 miles today..... Loving some of the minor CA roads..... Been all over the alps but this is a different kind of awesome :thumb
 
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