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Mountain Bike Routes in Cantabria, Spain

GPS Tracks

By: Javier Tovar, Pedro Ceballos, and Michael González Harbour

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Introduction

In this page you can find mountain bike routes that we have enjoyed cycled in the beautiful mountains of Cantabria, in Spain. They are routes of mid difficulty that allow us to watch spectacular views of the landscapes that make us fall in love with this region. The routes are almost completely cyclable. Most of them go through mountain dirt roads, and some are on trails or even have some short cross country segments. Many also have an initial and final part on secondary roads.

All routes begin and end in the same place, so that we can get there by car, carying our bikes.

The routes can be viewed in 3D projected on satellite pictures thanks to the free Google Earth program. In addition to the tracks in Google Earth format, we also provide the GPS track files that you can download on your GPS receiver, maps of the routes, the altitude profiles, and pictures of the area. We have recently added a page where you can view the track on satellite pictures or maps, using the services of Google Maps.

We hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

Routes in Spring and Summer 2006

Number	Route	Kilometers	Cummulative ascent (m)
01	Ruente, Monte AA, Collada de Carmona, and ascent to Zarceillo	35	838
02	Fresneda, Los Tojos, Colsa, Balcón de La Cardosa	46	1.196
03	Corrobárceno, San Martín de Toranzo, Collado Gandarillas	44	831
04	Oyambre, Monte Corona, Cabezón de la Sal	31	491
05	Arenas de Iguña, Cueto Helguera, Anievas, Bostronizo, and church of San Román de Moroso	38	1.073
06	Bárcena de Pie de Concha, Mediajo Frío, Lanchares, Alsa	42	1.280
07	Correpoco, Bárcena Mayor and ascent to Ropero peek	56	1.116
08	Puente El Arrudo, Cires, Venta de los Lobos, Collado de Hoz	39	1.056
09	Bárcena de Pie de Concha, Collado de Pagüenzo, Alsa	38	1.162
10	Celada-Marlantes, Somaloma, Aldea de Ebro, Cabaña de Higedo	52	1.338
11	Santa María de Cayón, Esles, Pozos de Noja	36	1.082
12	Selores, Correpoco, Ermita del Moral, Viaña	38	946
13	Valdeprado del Río (Km 5 of road S-614), Aldea de Ebro, Monte Higedo, Ruerrero, La Serna	76	1.288
14	Piedras Luengas, Caloca, Altos de Pineda, Lores	56	1.511
15	Renedo de Cabuérniga, Prado Concejo de Tudanca, Zarceillo	44	1486
16	Fresneda, Bárcena Mayor, Cruz de Fuentes, Ozcaba	58	1404

Routes in Autum and Winter 2006-2007

This section is in preparation. We will add more routes as we cycle them.

Number	Route	Kilometers	Cummulative ascent (m)
17	Puente El Arrudo, Quintanilla, Río Tanea, Puentenansa	46	1253
18	Saja, Ozcaba, Llano Castrillo, Rumaceo, Puerto de Palombera	50	1443
19	Saja, Tudanca, Embalse de la Cohilla, Sejos	67	2191
20	Rubalcaba, Valdició, Calseca, Alto de Somo	48	1316
21	Entrambasmestas, Coto Alisas, la Matanela, San Pedro del Romeral	41	964
22	Rubalcaba, Alto de Somo, Bustablado, Puerto de Alisas	57	1520
23	La Revilla, Bustancillés, La Gándara, Aja, San Pedro	42	968
24	Puente el Arrudo, Río Tanea, Collado de la Carrizosa, San Sebastián de Garabandal	45	992
25	Ruente, Ermita del Moral, Obios	52	1490
26	La Cavada, Rucandio, Tetas de Liérganes	31	643
27	Ruente, Collado de Monte Aa, San Sebastián de Garabandal	50	1136
28	Casas de Monte, Pozos de Noja	22	1030
29	Puente Nansa, San Sebastián de Garabandal, Collado de Abellán	39	949
30	Cabezón de la Sal, Monte Corona, Oyambre, San Vicente de la Barquera	48	907

Map of the routes

Instructions

Google Earth can be downloaded for free from http://earth.google.com/, and requires high-speed Internet connection (DSL o similar). After installing, you can open the "KMZ" files that you will find for each route. The program has controls to tilt the point of view and get a 3D display of the track.

The GPS tracks are offered in the popular formats PLT, of OziExplorer, and GRM, which is a Garmin PCX5 format.With them it is possible to open the route in a GPS route management application. Most GPS receivers have their own management program, and there are free applications to convert among the different file formats (for instance, POIConverter). Two popular GPS programs are:

GPS TrackMaker. Free program that lets you manage the routes, display them on a digital map, or transfer them to a GPS receiver. It can be found at: http://www.gpstm.com/
OziExplorer. Similar to the previous one, but not free. You can find it at: http://www.oziexplorer.com/

The Datum used in the GPS tracks is WGS84. Remember that there may be significant differences, up to 300 meters, if you use an incorrect datum. Spanish cartography usually come with the European Datum.

For the maps shown in each route we have used maps of Cantabria of scale 1:100.000 from the Government of Cantabria, and the official road map of Cantabria, which are accessible for free in: http://www.gobcantabria.es/portal/page?_pageid=33,1409351&_dad=interportal&_schema=INTERPORTAL and in http://www.carreterasdecantabria.es/Mapas_Web/Elmapa.aspx , respectively. However, to plan the routes it is advisable to use maps of scale 1:50.000 or 1:25.000, wich are available in libraries. The 1:50.000 maps are less up to date, but can be found in the Instituto Geográfico Nacional.

To generate the Google Maps files we have used the converter available in GPS Visualizer.

Disclaimer

We have tried to ensure that the information in this page is correct, and we publish it with the intention that it is useful. However, it has to be used under your own responsability. We cannot be responsible of the consecuences of using this information, or of any errors that it may contain.

The information in this page can be copied and distributed only for non-profit purposes, and citing the source.

Contact Information

For any question or comment on this page you can send an e-mail to Michael González Harbour: contacto@cantabriaenbici.es