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.
153 km from Contadero to Contadero, about 3 h 19 of riding. The stops in between: Rumichaca, Segment Mariscal Sucre - El Tambo and back through Rumichaca. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 3,400 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Colombia into Ecuador - carry ID and check the toll rules. The line favours views over speed.
There are several places named La Paz in Colombia, and this one is a small settlement in the department of Nariño, near the town of Contadero, in the high country close to the Ecuadorian border. Nariño is the land of the Pastos, the indigenous people who farmed these cold uplands before the Inca arrived, and it lies on the Qhapaq Ñan, the Inca road system that UNESCO listed in 2014. The road here follows the route that ran north from Quito toward Pasto, crossing deep canyons and high plateaus, and the old Inca line is part of the story of a landscape where cultures have met and mixed for centuries.
Read the complete La Paz write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
La Paz is where the day begins. Next is Rumichaca.
The border between Colombia and Ecuador crosses a gorge, and for centuries people have crossed it on a natural stone bridge. Rumichaca, from Quechua for stone bridge, spans the Carchi river a few kilometres from Ipiales, and it was an Inca route long before the modern frontier existed. Today it is a busy international crossing, with a customs complex on the Colombian side and the city of Tulcán waiting on the Ecuadorian side, and the old rock arch sits in a small park among the buildings, easy to miss amid the lorries.
Read the complete Rumichaca write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Rumichaca comes up about 22 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 76 km into the recorded legs you reach Segment Mariscal Sucre - El Tambo. Next is back through Rumichaca.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Rumichaca write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Rumichaca, late in the day. Next is La Paz.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete La Paz write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at La Paz. That is the ride.
La Paz → Rumichaca is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Rumichaca → Segment Mariscal Sucre - El Tambo is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Mariscal Sucre - El Tambo → back through Rumichaca is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Rumichaca → La Paz is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.