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.
A 196 km round trip from Lahuaytambo - roughly 4 h 09 in the saddle. The stops in between: Segment Sisicaya - Santa Rosa de Chontay, Segment Molle - Huarangal, Segment Quebrada Verde - Pachacamac and Ancient Reduction of Santiago Apostle of C. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 3,450 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
17 km on Segment Casila Alto - Chillaco → Segment Sisicaya - Santa Rosa de Chon.
For about 30 km this is Peru Coastal Panamericana South, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it. Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
In the mountains east of Lima, high above the desert coast, a stone path clings to the slopes of the province of Huarochirí. It is a section of the Qhapaq Ñan, the great Inca road system, which in this region linked the sacred coastal sanctuary of Pachacamac with Jauja and the central highlands. The segment between Casila Alto and Chillaco is one of the stretches listed by UNESCO in 2014 as part of the transnational Andean Road System. The Inca engineers built it with retaining walls, steps and drainage channels to cope with the steep terrain and seasonal rains, and parts are still used by local farmers and their animals.
Read the complete Segment Casila Alto - Chillaco write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Casila Alto - Chillaco is where the day begins. Next is Segment Sisicaya - Santa Rosa de Chontay.
The Peruvian coast is a desert, and the road up from Lima to the mountains is one of the most dramatic climbs in the Andes. Sisicaya and Santa Rosa de Chontay lie in the Huarochirí province, in the hills above the Rímac valley east of Lima, where the Inca road once climbed from the coastal plain to the high sierra. This stretch of the Qhapaq Ñan, part of the six-country UNESCO listing of 2014, follows ridges and dry valleys, with stone steps, retaining walls and terraces that are still visible if you know where to look.
Read the complete Segment Sisicaya - Santa Rosa de Chontay write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Sisicaya - Santa Rosa de Chontay comes up about 17 km into the recorded legs. Next is Segment Molle - Huarangal.
The names tell a story about the land. Molle is the Peruvian pepper tree, with its weeping branches and pink berries, and a huarangal is a grove of huarango, the tough, deep-rooted desert tree that once covered much of the Peruvian coast. Between these two places, in the lower hills east of Lima toward the Lurín valley, runs a short stretch of the Qhapaq Ñan, the Inca road network. Here the road descended from the highlands toward the sanctuary of Pachacamac on the coast, one of the most important religious centres of the ancient Andes, where an oracle drew pilgrims from far and wide. The segment is part of the UNESCO listing of the Andean Road System.
Read the complete Segment Molle - Huarangal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 35 km into the recorded legs you reach Segment Molle - Huarangal. Next is Segment Quebrada Verde - Pachacamac.
Lima is one of the driest capitals on earth, and yet just south of it, in the hills above the Lurín valley, the desert turns green for a few months every year. The Lomas de Quebrada Verde are fog oases, where the winter mist called garúa, rolling in from the cold Pacific between roughly June and October, condenses on the hillsides and brings to life a brief explosion of grass, flowers, cacti and shrubs, attracting birds, butterflies and the people of Lima, who come here to walk. The segment between Quebrada Verde and Pachacamac is part of the Qhapaq Ñan, the Inca road system, which linked the coast with the highlands.
Read the complete Segment Quebrada Verde - Pachacamac write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Quebrada Verde - Pachacamac, about halfway. Next is Ancient Reduction of Santiago Apostle of C.
The Spanish had a word for what they did to the Andean countryside in the 1570s: reduccion. Under the viceroy Francisco de Toledo, scattered hamlets were gathered into planned towns around a plaza and a church, so that the people could be counted, taxed, taught the catechism and put to work, and a settlement named for Santiago, the apostle the conquistadors invoked in battle, was one of hundreds of such foundations.
Read the complete Ancient Reduction of Santiago Apostle of C write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ancient Reduction of Santiago Apostle of C sits at 108 km, about halfway. Next is back through Segment Quebrada Verde - Pachacamac.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Quebrada Verde - Pachacamac write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Segment Quebrada Verde - Pachacamac comes up about 128 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Segment Molle - Huarangal.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Molle - Huarangal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 161 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Segment Molle - Huarangal. Next is back through Segment Sisicaya - Santa Rosa de Chontay.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Sisicaya - Santa Rosa de Chontay write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Segment Sisicaya - Santa Rosa de Chontay, late in the day. Next is Segment Casila Alto - Chillaco.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Casila Alto - Chillaco write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 196 km.
Segment Casila Alto - Chillaco → Segment Sisicaya - Santa Rosa de Chontay is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Sisicaya - Santa Rosa de Chontay → Segment Molle - Huarangal is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Molle - Huarangal → Segment Quebrada Verde - Pachacamac is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Quebrada Verde - Pachacamac → Ancient Reduction of Santiago Apostle of C is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ancient Reduction of Santiago Apostle of C → back through Segment Quebrada Verde - Pachacamac is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment Quebrada Verde - Pachacamac → back through Segment Molle - Huarangal is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment Molle - Huarangal → back through Segment Sisicaya - Santa Rosa de Chontay is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment Sisicaya - Santa Rosa de Chontay → Segment Casila Alto - Chillaco is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.