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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Abancay it runs 994 km to Abancay; allow about 17 h 11 of riding. It goes by way of Segment Kutacoca-Choquequirao, Segment Inca Mach’ay-Samarinapata and back through Segment Kutacoca-Choquequirao. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 3,950 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Apurímac is a Quechua word that means the speaker of the gods, or the great speaker, and it is the name of the river whose canyon you cross, deep and loud, on any road between Cusco and Abancay. The region around Abancay is one of the least visited in the southern Andes, and I find that its character is mostly vertical: valleys at 2,000 metres with sugar cane and avocados, then switchbacks climbing into puna grassland above 4,000 metres where the wind is cold and the llamas look at you without interest. The abra in the title, Spanish for a mountain pass, is one of those high crossings, and the Inca road, the Qhapaq Ñan, runs over or near it.
Read the complete Segment Abra Choqetakarpu-Toroyoq write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Abra Choqetakarpu-Toroyoq is where the day begins. Next is Segment Kutacoca-Choquequirao.
Choquequirao is sometimes called the sister of Machu Picchu, and you can tell why when you see the photographs: a ridge of white-walled terraces and plazas, perched above a canyon, with snow peaks looming in the background. It is also a good deal harder to reach. The ruins sit at around three thousand metres on the far side of the Apurímac valley, a day's hard walk from the end of the road, and a fraction of the visitors who crowd Machu Picchu make the journey. The name is usually translated as cradle of gold.
Read the complete Segment Kutacoca-Choquequirao write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Kutacoca-Choquequirao comes up about 360 km into the recorded legs. Next is Segment Inca Mach’ay-Samarinapata.
This is a stretch of the Inca road, and it is made for feet. The Qhapaq Ñan was the great road system of the Inca empire, more than thirty thousand kilometres of stone causeways, steps, bridges and tunnels linking the Pacific coast to the high Andes and from Colombia down to Chile and Argentina. UNESCO listed the network across six countries in 2014. The segment between Mach'ay and Samarinapata runs through the mountains of the Cusco region, west of Machu Picchu, and its name tells the story. A mach'ay is a cave, and samarina is a place to rest, so the route marks shelters and stopping points for travellers and for the chasquis, the relay runners who carried messages and goods at great speed across the empire.
Read the complete Segment Inca Mach’ay-Samarinapata write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 503 km into the recorded legs you reach Segment Inca Mach’ay-Samarinapata. Next is back through Segment Kutacoca-Choquequirao.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Kutacoca-Choquequirao write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Segment Kutacoca-Choquequirao, late in the day. Next is Segment Abra Choqetakarpu-Toroyoq.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Abra Choqetakarpu-Toroyoq write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Segment Abra Choqetakarpu-Toroyoq. That is the ride.
Segment Abra Choqetakarpu-Toroyoq → Segment Kutacoca-Choquequirao is 360 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Kutacoca-Choquequirao → Segment Inca Mach’ay-Samarinapata is 143 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Inca Mach’ay-Samarinapata → back through Segment Kutacoca-Choquequirao is 143 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment Kutacoca-Choquequirao → Segment Abra Choqetakarpu-Toroyoq is 360 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.