CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Gualmatán it runs 128 km to Gualmatán; allow about 3 h 35 of riding. It goes by way of Chitarran, San Pedro and back through Chitarran. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 3,300 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Down in Colombia's far south, close to the border with Ecuador, the Andes spread into a high, rumpled plateau of small fields stitched together by hedges, with deep canyons cut into it by rivers rushing towards the Pacific and the Amazon. La Cofradía lies here in the department of Nariño, between Gualmatán and Contadero, at the height of the old Inca road network, the Qhapaq Ñan, which reached this far north as the empire's frontier pushed into what is now Colombia. A few stretches of the road around here are part of the Qhapaq Ñan World Heritage site.
Read the complete La Cofradía write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
La Cofradía is where the day begins. Next is Chitarran.
In the high Andes of southern Colombia, near the border with Ecuador, the Inca road network reached its northern limit. The Qhapaq Ñan, as the system is called, stretched from here to central Chile, and a few segments in the department of Nariño are part of the UNESCO listing of 2014. Chitarrán is one of these, a stretch of old road near the villages of Córdoba, Contadero and Iles, in a landscape of green hills, ravines and patchwork fields at altitudes of over two thousand metres.
Read the complete Chitarran write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Chitarrán comes up about 26 km into the recorded legs. Next is San Pedro.
Ipiales is the last big Colombian town before Ecuador, and the high, cold plateau around it is some of the most dramatic farmland in the Andes. San Pedro lies a little north-west of the city, in a landscape of terraces, small farms and green slopes that tilt toward the canyon of the Guáitara river. The land is at about 2,900 metres and above, so mornings begin with frost on the grass and a hard blue sky.
Read the complete San Pedro write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 60 km into the recorded legs you reach San Pedro. Next is back through Chitarran.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Chitarran write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Chitarran, late in the day. Next is La Cofradía.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete La Cofradía write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at La Cofradía. That is the ride.
La Cofradía → Chitarran is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Chitarrán → San Pedro is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
San Pedro → back through Chitarran is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Chitarran → La Cofradía is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.