Guasca and the Paramo

North-east out of Bogotá onto the páramo: frailejón, cloud and a road at three thousand metres that feels a long way from the city it starts in.

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Why this ride

A one-way ride of 88 km, La Calera to Sesquilé - roughly 1 h 42 in the saddle. The stops in between: Guasca and Guatavita. The highest point is 2,720 m. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.

Roadbook

1. La Calera start · 2720 m

   La Calera is where the day begins.

2. Guasca scenic · 2710 m

   Guasca sits at twenty-seven hundred metres in the Andes east of Bogotá, in the cold, green country that leads up to the páramo, the high moorland that Colombians treat with a kind of reverence. The town is small, with a square, a church and a scattering of cafes and shops, and the surrounding land is dairy farms, strawberry fields and potato plots, with eucalyptus and pines on the ridges. It feels a long way from the capital, though the capital is only an hour or so away.

   The riding here is one of the real pleasures of the Bogotá region. The roads wind through the hills in long, rolling bends, with good views over valleys that drop away in layers of green. The surface varies, and the potholes, landslide repairs and sudden patches of gravel are a reminder that you are in the mountains, but the pace is easy, and traffic is light during the week. On weekends, cyclists and city riders come out in large numbers, so you will share the lanes with plenty of company. The weather can change quickly, with sunshine at breakfast, cloud by midday and rain in the afternoon, so carry waterproofs whatever the morning looks like.

   The district is close to places that belong to Colombia's earliest history. Lake Guatavita, a few kilometres away, is a round crater lake that the Muisca people held sacred, and the ritual in which a new chief covered himself in gold dust and floated out on a raft to make offerings to the water is the source of the legend of El Dorado. The Chingaza páramo beyond is a national park whose lakes and wetlands supply a large share of Bogotá's drinking water, with frailejones, the furry-leaved plants of the high Andes, growing in thick stands.

   For fuel, Sopó, about eight kilometres away, is a larger town with a regular station, and it is also where the Alpina dairy company has its roots, so the cheese and yoghurt are good. Guasca has the basics, but it is wise to arrive with a decent tank. Local restaurants serve hearty food, from trout to soups with potatoes and corn, and the altitude means that a hot drink is welcome at any time of day. The dry season, December to March and July to August, is the best time to go.

3. Guatavita scenic · 2650 m

   Guatavita is the place where a legend took root, and the legend still pulls people up the mountain. The Muisca people who lived on the high plateau around Bogotá held a lake nearby, Laguna de Guatavita, to be sacred, and the story goes that a new chief would be covered in gold dust, taken out on a raft and would dive into the water while his people threw offerings of gold and emeralds. Spanish chroniclers heard the tale and turned it into the myth of El Dorado, the gilded man, which sent expeditions across the continent for centuries. The lake is a few kilometres away in a nature reserve, a deep round bowl in the páramo.

   The town itself has an unusual history. Old Guatavita was drowned in the 1960s when the Tominé reservoir was filled, and the community moved to a new site, Guatavita Nueva, built in a colonial style with white walls, tiled roofs and a handsome plaza. It looks old, though it is barely sixty years old. The reservoir spreads below, a wide blue lake popular with sailors and weekend visitors, and a ring of green hills encloses it.

   At 2,650 metres, the air is cool and thin, and mist often gathers on the heights. The riding approaches from Bogotá through dairy farms and cloud-forest edge, on roads that curve and climb with views over the valleys. The surface is generally good, but potholes and landslides can appear in the wet seasons, which run from March to May and from October to November. Cyclists ride these hills in large numbers, so keep an eye out and give them space.

   Services in Guatavita are modest but friendly, with cafés, bakeries and restaurants serving local specialities such as roast trout and hot chocolate with cheese. Fuel is available in Tocancipá and Sesquilé, so fill up beforehand. Weekends are busy, and parking around the plaza fills up. Bring a warm layer and a rain jacket, because the weather can change in minutes.

4. Sesquilé finish · 2595 m

   Sesquilé closes the day.

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