Segment Cerro de Cojitambo and Segment Llaviuco - Llaviuco
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
99 km
Riding-time estimate
2 h 02
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: 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.
99 km from Azogues to Azogues, about 2 h 02 of riding. On the way it passes Historic Centre of Santa Ana de los Ríos d, Segment Llaviuco - Llaviuco and back through Historic Centre of Santa Ana de los Ríos d. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 3,800 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Scenic road chapters
Avenue of the Volcanoes
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 30 km this is Avenue of the Volcanoes, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
Length
30 km
Named road
Avenue of the Volcanoes
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Segment Cerro de Cojitambo
Cojitambo is a rocky hill that rises abruptly above the valley of Azogues, in the province of Cañar, in the southern Andes of Ecuador. Its summit and slopes hold the remains of a Cañari and Inca settlement, with walls, terraces and stairways, and the Inca road ran past it, a segment of the Qhapaq Ñan listed by UNESCO. The Cañari were the people of this region before the Inca conquest, and they resisted fiercely, later siding with the Spanish against their Inca overlords. Today the hill is also a popular spot for rock climbing, with routes on its cliffs.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Segment Cerro de Cojitambo is where the day begins. Next is Historic Centre of Santa Ana de los Ríos d.
2. Historic Centre of Santa Ana de los Ríos d
High in the southern Ecuadorian Andes, at about 2,500 metres, Cuenca was founded by the Spanish in 1557 on a grid plan, on the site of an Inca city called Tomebamba, which was itself built over an earlier Cañari settlement. The colonial centre, with its cobbled streets, whitewashed houses with wooden balconies, churches and plazas, was inscribed by UNESCO in 1999, and the blue-tiled domes of the new cathedral are the city's landmark. The Tomebamba river runs through the city, lined with parks and old houses perched on the bank.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Historic Centre of Santa Ana de los Ríos d comes up about 30 km into the recorded legs. Next is Segment Llaviuco - Llaviuco.
3. Segment Llaviuco - Llaviuco
The Incas built a road across the Andes that stretched for thousands of kilometres, linking Quito, Cusco and far beyond, and parts of it still survive in Ecuador. Llaviuco is a short surviving segment, listed by UNESCO as part of the Qhapaq Ñan, the great Andean road system. It lies inside Cajas National Park, in a landscape of high moorland, small lakes and cloud forest, above Cuenca. The stones of the old road are set in the ground by hand, and walking them gives a direct sense of how this empire moved people, messengers and llamas through the mountains.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Segment Cerro de Cojitambo. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Segment Cerro de Cojitambo to Historic Centre of Santa Ana de los Ríos d
Segment Cerro de Cojitambo → Historic Centre of Santa Ana de los Ríos d is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historic Centre of Santa Ana de los Ríos d to Segment Llaviuco - Llaviuco
Historic Centre of Santa Ana de los Ríos d → Segment Llaviuco - Llaviuco is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Llaviuco - Llaviuco to back through Historic Centre of Santa Ana de los Ríos d
Segment Llaviuco - Llaviuco → back through Historic Centre of Santa Ana de los Ríos d is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Historic Centre of Santa Ana de los Ríos d to Segment Cerro de Cojitambo
back through Historic Centre of Santa Ana de los Ríos d → Segment Cerro de Cojitambo is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.