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.
308 km from Yacuanquer to Yacuanquer, about 6 h 50 of riding. On the way it passes Rosal de Chapal, 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. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Pasto sits at the foot of Galeras, an active volcano of more than 4,200 metres that has rumbled and smoked on and off for centuries, and the farm country around it lies in the shadow of that mountain. Los Ajos is a rural spot in this southern Colombian highland, in the department of Nariño, a few kilometres from the small towns of Yacuanquer and Tangua.
Read the complete Los Ajos write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Los Ajos is where the day begins. Next is Rosal de Chapal.
High in the department of Nariño, in Colombia's far southwest, the land folds into deep canyons cut by the Guáitara River, and the old Inca road, the Qhapaq Ñan, threads along the slopes. Rosal de Chapal is one of the surviving fragments of that road on the Colombian side, a stretch of track near the small towns of Funes, Iles and Contadero. The Qhapaq Ñan, a network of roads that tied the Inca empire together from present day Colombia to Chile and Argentina, was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2014, and Nariño holds its northernmost sections.
Read the complete Rosal de Chapal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Rosal de Chapal comes up about 52 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 102 km into the recorded legs you reach Rumichaca. 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.
Segment Mariscal Sucre - El Tambo, about halfway. 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 sits at 139 km, about halfway. Next is back through Rosal de Chapal.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Rosal de Chapal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Rosal de Chapal comes up about 254 km into the recorded legs. Next is Los Ajos.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Los Ajos write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Los Ajos closes the day.
Los Ajos → Rosal de Chapal is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Rosal de Chapal → Rumichaca is 50 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 → back through Rosal de Chapal is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Rosal de Chapal → Los Ajos is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.