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.
549 km from Cusco to Cusco, about 13 h 39 of riding. The stops in between: Segment Patacancha-Huacahuasi, Segment Kintama-Tawis and back through Segment Patacancha-Huacahuasi. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 4,200 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 107 km this is Sacred Valley Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
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 Patacancha-Huacahuasi.
Above Ollantaytambo, where the Sacred Valley of the Incas narrows, a side valley climbs north toward the high passes of the Urubamba range, following the Patacancha river. The segment between Patacancha and Huacahuasi is part of the Qhapaq Ñan, the Inca road system, and it crosses some of the most beautiful country in the Cusco region: steep slopes covered with potato fields and terraces, small villages of stone and adobe houses, herds of llamas and alpacas grazing in high pastures, and snow-capped peaks above. The communities of this area, like Patacancha and Huacahuasi, are known for their weaving, with intricate designs and bright colours, and the women's traditional dress is among the most striking in the Andes.
Read the complete Segment Patacancha-Huacahuasi write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Patacancha-Huacahuasi comes up about 107 km into the recorded legs. Next is Segment Kintama-Tawis.
The Inca built a road network that stretched some thirty thousand kilometres along the Andes, from southern Colombia to central Chile, and much of it still exists as stone paths, staircases and causeways through the mountains. The Qhapaq Ñan, as it is called, was listed by UNESCO in 2014 as a set of segments across six countries. The Kintama-Tawis segment lies in the mountains north of the Sacred Valley of Cusco, in the high country between the valley and the cloud forests that descend toward the Amazon and the Manú national park.
Read the complete Segment Kintama-Tawis write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 270 km into the recorded legs you reach Segment Kintama-Tawis. Next is back through Segment Patacancha-Huacahuasi.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Patacancha-Huacahuasi write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Segment Patacancha-Huacahuasi, 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 Patacancha-Huacahuasi is 107 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Patacancha-Huacahuasi → Segment Kintama-Tawis is 163 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Kintama-Tawis → back through Segment Patacancha-Huacahuasi is 171 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment Patacancha-Huacahuasi → Santiago Square and Church is 107 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.