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CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE

Segment Cajay - Huaritambo and Segment Huaricashash - Isco

Plan this ride

Recorded distance
770 km
Riding-time estimate
13 h 17
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis

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.

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Why this ride

A 770 km round trip from Huari - roughly 13 h 17 in the saddle. On the way it passes Segment Ayash - Taulli, Segment Tambo Chico - Taparaku, Segment Huaricashash - Isco and back through Segment Ayash - Taulli. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 4,300 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

  1. 1. Segment Cajay - Huaritambo

    Few riders ever get this far into the Conchucos, the deep valleys on the eastern side of Peru's Cordillera Blanca, and that is half the reason to come. The label refers to a stretch of the Qhapaq Ñan, the Inca road network that ran for thousands of kilometres along the Andes, here crossing between the hamlet of Cajay and Huaritambo, whose name preserves the word tambo, the waystation where runners and travellers on imperial business could rest, eat and change loads. Parts of the paving, retaining walls and drainage channels still survive on slopes where it is hard to imagine anyone building anything at all.

    Read the complete Segment Cajay - Huaritambo write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Segment Cajay - Huaritambo is where the day begins. Next is Segment Ayash - Taulli.

  2. 2. Segment Ayash - Taulli

    East of the Cordillera Blanca, the Andes break into a jumble of high plateaus and deep valleys draining toward the Marañón and the Amazon, and the Inca road ran through this country on its way from Cusco to Quito. The Ayash to Taulli segment is a stretch of the Qhapaq Ñan in the highlands of Huánuco, near the town of Llata, part of the UNESCO-listed Andean road system. It runs through the puna, the high grassland above the tree line, where the wind blows cold and the views stretch for miles over ridges and valleys. In places, the original road survives, with stone paving, retaining walls, steps and drainage channels, and walking a section of it is the best way to understand how the Incas moved people and goods across this vertical landscape.

    Read the complete Segment Ayash - Taulli write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Segment Ayash - Taulli comes up about 92 km into the recorded legs. Next is Segment Tambo Chico - Taparaku.

  3. 3. Segment Tambo Chico - Taparaku

    The Qhapaq Ñan, the royal road of the Incas, linked an empire that stretched from what is now Colombia to Chile and Argentina, and in the highlands of Huánuco in central Peru one of its best-preserved stretches runs across the high puna between Tambo Chico and Taparaku.

    Read the complete Segment Tambo Chico - Taparaku write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    about 189 km into the recorded legs you reach Segment Tambo Chico - Taparaku. Next is Segment Ayash - Taulli.

  4. 4. Segment Ayash - Taulli

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Segment Ayash - Taulli write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Segment Ayash - Taulli, about halfway. Next is Segment Huaricashash - Isco.

  5. 5. Segment Huaricashash - Isco

    La Union is a small market town in a high valley of the Huanuco Region, in the central Peruvian Andes, and the Huaricashash to Isco segment lies about eleven kilometres from it, in a landscape of steep terraced hillsides, eucalyptus groves and distant snow peaks. It is the same Inca road network as the neighbouring segments, but this stretch sits close to the greatest Inca site in the region.

    Read the complete Segment Huaricashash - Isco write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Segment Huaricashash - Isco sits at 385 km, about halfway. Next is back through Segment Ayash - Taulli.

  6. 6. back through Segment Ayash - Taulli

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Segment Ayash - Taulli write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    back through Segment Ayash - Taulli comes up about 499 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Segment Tambo Chico - Taparaku.

  7. 7. back through Segment Tambo Chico - Taparaku

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Segment Tambo Chico - Taparaku write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    about 586 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Segment Tambo Chico - Taparaku. Next is back through Segment Ayash - Taulli.

  8. 8. back through Segment Ayash - Taulli

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Segment Ayash - Taulli write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    back through Segment Ayash - Taulli, late in the day. Next is Segment Cajay - Huaritambo.

  9. 9. Segment Cajay - Huaritambo

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Segment Cajay - Huaritambo write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    The route ends here after 770 km.

Leg by leg

Segment Cajay - Huaritambo to Segment Ayash - Taulli

Segment Cajay - Huaritambo → Segment Ayash - Taulli is 92 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Segment Ayash - Taulli to Segment Tambo Chico - Taparaku

Segment Ayash - Taulli → Segment Tambo Chico - Taparaku is 97 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Segment Tambo Chico - Taparaku to Segment Ayash - Taulli

Segment Tambo Chico - Taparaku → Segment Ayash - Taulli is 87 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Segment Ayash - Taulli to Segment Huaricashash - Isco

Segment Ayash - Taulli → Segment Huaricashash - Isco is 112 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Segment Huaricashash - Isco to back through Segment Ayash - Taulli

Segment Huaricashash - Isco → back through Segment Ayash - Taulli is 112 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Segment Ayash - Taulli to back through Segment Tambo Chico - Taparaku

back through Segment Ayash - Taulli → back through Segment Tambo Chico - Taparaku is 87 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Segment Tambo Chico - Taparaku to back through Segment Ayash - Taulli

back through Segment Tambo Chico - Taparaku → back through Segment Ayash - Taulli is 97 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Segment Ayash - Taulli to Segment Cajay - Huaritambo

back through Segment Ayash - Taulli → Segment Cajay - Huaritambo is 92 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

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