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.
A 211 km round trip from Gualmatán - roughly 5 h 45 in the saddle. On the way it passes Segment Pulcas - Troya A, Segment Mariscal Sucre - El Tambo, Segment Pulcas - Troya B and back through Segment Mariscal Sucre - El Tambo. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 3,450 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Colombia into Ecuador - carry ID and check the toll rules.
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 Segment Pulcas - Troya A.
Tulcán is the last Ecuadorian city before Colombia, a high, cold, windswept place at almost 3,000 metres, and it has one of the strangest sights in the Andes: a cemetery where cypress trees have been clipped into elaborate topiary, with figures, arches and geometric shapes, a tradition started by a local gardener in the 1930s. Near the city, the segment of Inca road between Pulcas and Troya is part of the Qhapaq Ñan World Heritage Site, marking the northern reaches of the Inca road system, which extended into what is now southern Colombia.
Read the complete Segment Pulcas - Troya A write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Pulcas - Troya A comes up about 36 km into the recorded legs. Next is Segment Mariscal Sucre - El Tambo.
Up in Carchi, Ecuador's northernmost province, a short stretch of old stone-edged road near San Gabriel is all that is left visible of something enormous. The Qhapaq Ñan, the Inca road system, ran from what is now southern Colombia to central Chile and Argentina, tens of thousands of kilometres of paths, stairways and causeways that tied the empire together. The segment between Mariscal Sucre and El Tambo is one of the pieces listed by UNESCO in 2014 as part of that network. A tambo was a waystation, a place where runners and travellers could rest and resupply, so the name itself tells you what stood here.
Read the complete Segment Mariscal Sucre - El Tambo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 66 km into the recorded legs you reach Segment Mariscal Sucre - El Tambo. Next is Segment Pulcas - Troya B.
Close to the Colombian border, at almost three thousand metres, the páramo above Tulcán is a cold, windy country of tussock grass and cloud. Tulcán, a town of over eighty thousand people, is the capital of Carchi province, and it sits at the very top of the northern Andes of Ecuador, within sight of the volcanoes that straddle the frontier. The air here is thin and cool, even at midday, and the rain is never far away.
Read the complete Segment Pulcas - Troya B write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Pulcas - Troya B, about halfway. Next is back through Segment Mariscal Sucre - El Tambo.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Mariscal Sucre - El Tambo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Segment Mariscal Sucre - El Tambo sits at 108 km, about halfway. Next is back through Segment Pulcas - Troya A.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Pulcas - Troya A write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Segment Pulcas - Troya A comes up about 172 km into the recorded legs. 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.
La Cofradía closes the day.
La Cofradía → Segment Pulcas - Troya A is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Pulcas - Troya A → Segment Mariscal Sucre - El Tambo is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Mariscal Sucre - El Tambo → Segment Pulcas - Troya B is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Pulcas - Troya B → back through Segment Mariscal Sucre - El Tambo is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment Mariscal Sucre - El Tambo → back through Segment Pulcas - Troya A is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment Pulcas - Troya A → La Cofradía is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.