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 309 km round trip from Quehue - roughly 5 h 46 in the saddle. The stops in between: Segment Cusipata-Santa Cruz de Occobamba N, Belén Square and Church and back through Segment Cusipata-Santa Cruz de Occobamba N. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 4,450 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
The Qhapaq Ñan, the great road system of the Inca Empire, stretched over thirty thousand kilometres across the Andes, linking Cusco with the farthest corners of the empire, from southern Colombia to central Chile. In 2014, UNESCO listed it as a World Heritage Site across six countries, and the listing includes hundreds of individual segments, each a fragment of the network. The Chiwuanquiri segment lies in the high province of Canas, south of Cusco, near the village of Cahuanuyo, on the high puna at around four thousand metres. Here, the old road crosses open grassland, with stone paving, retaining walls and drainage channels still visible in places, and it is a moving experience to walk on a road built more than five centuries ago.
Read the complete Segment Chiwuanquiri write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Chiwuanquiri is where the day begins. Next is Segment Cusipata-Santa Cruz de Occobamba N.
South of Cusco, the Vilcanota River runs through a broad, fertile valley flanked by high mountains, and along it ran one of the most important stretches of the Qhapaq Ñan, the Inca road system that linked an empire stretching from Ecuador to Chile. The route from Cusco to Lake Titicaca followed this valley, and sections of the original road, some paved with stone, some cut into the hillside, still survive. The segment between Cusipata and Santa Cruz de Occobamba went onto the World Heritage list in 2014 as one strand of the Qhapaq Ñan.
Read the complete Segment Cusipata-Santa Cruz de Occobamba N write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Cusipata-Santa Cruz de Occobamba N comes up about 66 km into the recorded legs. Next is Belén Square and Church.
Belén is a small plaza on the south side of Cusco's centre, with a church that dates from the colonial era and a neighbourhood that has long been home to potters and tradespeople. Like much of the city, it was built on Inca land, and the name recalls the hospital and chapel of Bethlehem that the Spanish founded for the care of the sick. The church is modest by Cusco's standards, but its location, away from the busiest tourist streets, gives it an everyday air that many visitors miss.
Read the complete Belén Square and Church write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 155 km into the recorded legs you reach Belén Square and Church. Next is back through Segment Cusipata-Santa Cruz de Occobamba N.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Cusipata-Santa Cruz de Occobamba N write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Segment Cusipata-Santa Cruz de Occobamba N, late in the day. Next is Segment Chiwuanquiri.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Chiwuanquiri write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Segment Chiwuanquiri. That is the ride.
Segment Chiwuanquiri → Segment Cusipata-Santa Cruz de Occobamba N is 66 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Cusipata-Santa Cruz de Occobamba N → Belén Square and Church is 89 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Belén Square and Church → back through Segment Cusipata-Santa Cruz de Occobamba N is 89 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Segment Cusipata-Santa Cruz de Occobamba N → Segment Chiwuanquiri is 66 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.