Cantabria by Bike

The Pass of Sejos and Descent through the Devil's Canyon

Route 18a

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

Map

Basic Data

Kilometers/Miles	39 / 24
Cumulative ascent: meters/feet	1251 / 4103
Maximum height: meters/feet	1584 / 5195
Duration	5 hours and a quarter
Beginning and end location	Near Saja
Difficulty	High
Month	August 2008 and October 2008
Recommended period	Summer

Profile

Pictures

Pictures of August 2008

The slope of the Gurugú Height show the lines of its different creeks	The ascent is through a beautiful track surounded by forest
The track that goes up to Sejos	The Pass of Rumaceo as seen from the refuge of El Campanario
The massif of Peña Sagra is seen from its side. The Picos de Europa can be seen in the background	River Saja
The descent by river Saja starts through a narrow path	A nice spot in the river
The track has loose rocks	Most of the descent has to be done on foot
This natural structure looks as if it was made by man.	Some rocks over the Devil's Canyon

Pictures of October 2008

Some of these pictures were shot by Javi, who came in this ocasion. Thanks.

A female deer with her cub watches us in alert position	A male deer with huge horns
Two other females of his herd	The rocks called los cantos de la borrica seem small, until you see the refuge beneath them
Another view of the reguge of los cantos de la borrica	Los cantos de la borrica from the pass of Sejos
The "piedra jincá" is a menhir located in the pass of Sejos	There are several menhirs in the pass
Some have visible carvings	We also find several cromlechs, which are neolithic burial sites formed with a circle of stones
The valley of Polaciones from the pass of Sejos	A curious geological formation

Downloads

To open the route in Google Earth click on the 'KMZ' link and select 'Open with Goole Earth' (requires prior installation of Google Earth). To download a route, right-click on the link and select 'save link as' or a similar option.

Route 18a Google Earth (KMZ) format
Route 18a OziExplorer (PLT) format
Route 18a GPS exchange (GPX)

Note: The track of the descent by the Saja river has bad precision in some sections due to the poor satellite reception, but it follows a path where you can't get lost.

Instructions

See the instructions and disclaimer, as well as other routes, in the main page.