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 Cusco it runs 214 km to Cusco; allow about 4 h 13 of riding. On the way it passes Segment Portada Rumiqolqa-ch’Uspitacana, Segment Cusipata-Santa Cruz de Occobamba N and back through Segment Portada Rumiqolqa-ch’Uspitacana. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 4,450 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Santiago, on the south-western side of the historic core, is one of the districts where Cusco feels like a working town rather than a museum. The square and its small church sit among streets lined with shops, workshops and houses that were once on the edge of the Inca city. The Spanish named it after Saint James, their patron in battle, the one who was said to appear on a white horse to help the conquistadors, and the Cusqueños transformed him into a figure linked with thunder and lightning, a good example of how two beliefs merged.
Read the complete Santiago Square and Church write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Santiago Square and Church is where the day begins. Next is Segment Portada Rumiqolqa-ch’Uspitacana.
South-east of Cusco, the Vilcanota valley narrows at a place called Rumicolca, and a massive stone gateway stands across the old road. Built originally by the Wari, the empire that preceded the Inca, as part of an aqueduct, and later converted by the Inca into a controlled entrance to the Cusco valley, the gateway of Rumicolca marked the checkpoint where travellers and goods were inspected. The segment of the Qhapaq Ñan between Rumicolca and Chuspitacana is part of the Andean road system inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2014, and its stones still carry the marks of the people who walked it.
Read the complete Segment Portada Rumiqolqa-ch’Uspitacana write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Portada Rumiqolqa-ch’Uspitacana comes up about 40 km into the recorded legs. Next is Segment Cusipata-Santa Cruz de Occobamba N.
South of Cusco, the Vilcanota River runs through a broad, fertile valley flanked by high mountains, and along it ran one of the most important stretches of the Qhapaq Ñan, the Inca road system that linked an empire stretching from Ecuador to Chile. The route from Cusco to Lake Titicaca followed this valley, and sections of the original road, some paved with stone, some cut into the hillside, still survive. The segment between Cusipata and Santa Cruz de Occobamba went onto the World Heritage list in 2014 as one strand of the Qhapaq Ñan.
Read the complete Segment Cusipata-Santa Cruz de Occobamba N write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 107 km into the recorded legs you reach Segment Cusipata-Santa Cruz de Occobamba N. Next is back through Segment Portada Rumiqolqa-ch’Uspitacana.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Portada Rumiqolqa-ch’Uspitacana write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Segment Portada Rumiqolqa-ch’Uspitacana, late in the day. Next is Santiago Square and Church.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Santiago Square and Church write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Santiago Square and Church. That is the ride.
Santiago Square and Church → Segment Portada Rumiqolqa-ch’Uspitacana is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Portada Rumiqolqa-ch’Uspitacana → Segment Cusipata-Santa Cruz de Occobamba N is 67 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Cusipata-Santa Cruz de Occobamba N → back through Segment Portada Rumiqolqa-ch’Uspitacana is 67 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment Portada Rumiqolqa-ch’Uspitacana → Santiago Square and Church is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.