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.
From Quehue it runs 397 km to Quehue; allow about 8 h 16 of riding. The stops in between: Segment Machaqmarka-Raqchi-Qquea, Segment Cusipata-Santa Cruz de Occobamba N, Segment Portada Rumiqolqa-ch’Uspitacana and Segment Plaza Inca Hanan: Hauk’aypataqolla. 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 Machaqmarka-Raqchi-Qquea.
The Vilcanota valley south of Cusco is the old highway of the Andes, and the Inca road ran along it towards Lake Titicaca and the southern provinces of the empire. The segment between Machaqmarka, Raqchi and Qquea is one of the sections of the Qhapaq Ñan listed by UNESCO, and it passes one of the most impressive Inca sites outside Cusco. At Raqchi, near San Pedro de Cacha, the Temple of Wiracocha, dedicated to the creator god, was an enormous building with a central wall of stone and adobe that still rises around fifteen metres high, flanked by rows of columns. Around it are the remains of storehouses, the round qollqas, lined up in rows, houses, baths and fountains, and a lava field from the nearby volcano of Kinsach'ata, which according to legend erupted when Wiracocha passed by. The village holds a festival in June, with music and dancing.
Read the complete Segment Machaqmarka-Raqchi-Qquea write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Machaqmarka-Raqchi-Qquea comes up about 49 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 86 km into the recorded legs you reach Segment Cusipata-Santa Cruz de Occobamba N. Next is Segment Portada Rumiqolqa-ch’Uspitacana.
South-east of Cusco, the Vilcanota valley narrows at a place called Rumicolca, and a massive stone gateway stands across the old road. Built originally by the Wari, the empire that preceded the Inca, as part of an aqueduct, and later converted by the Inca into a controlled entrance to the Cusco valley, the gateway of Rumicolca marked the checkpoint where travellers and goods were inspected. The segment of the Qhapaq Ñan between Rumicolca and Chuspitacana is part of the Andean road system inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2014, and its stones still carry the marks of the people who walked it.
Read the complete Segment Portada Rumiqolqa-ch’Uspitacana write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Portada Rumiqolqa-ch’Uspitacana, about halfway. Next is Segment Plaza Inca Hanan: Hauk’aypataqolla.
Every road of the Inca empire began here. The great square of Cusco, which the Incas called Hauk'aypata, was the ceremonial heart of Tawantinsuyu, the land of the four quarters, and from it the main roads radiated out to the four parts of the empire, to Quito in the north, to Chile and Argentina in the south, to the jungle in the east and the coast in the west. The square was much larger than today's Plaza de Armas and was covered, according to the chroniclers, with sand brought from the coast, in which offerings of gold and silver were buried. Here, mummies of past rulers were brought out for festivals, and the Inca received ambassadors and celebrated victories.
Read the complete Segment Plaza Inca Hanan: Hauk’aypataqolla write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Plaza Inca Hanan: Hauk’aypataqolla sits at 177 km, about halfway. Next is back through Segment Portada Rumiqolqa-ch’Uspitacana.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Portada Rumiqolqa-ch’Uspitacana write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Segment Portada Rumiqolqa-ch’Uspitacana comes up about 244 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 311 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Segment Cusipata-Santa Cruz de Occobamba N. Next is back through Segment Machaqmarka-Raqchi-Qquea.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Machaqmarka-Raqchi-Qquea write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Segment Machaqmarka-Raqchi-Qquea, 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.
The route ends here after 397 km.
Segment Chiwuanquiri → Segment Machaqmarka-Raqchi-Qquea is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Machaqmarka-Raqchi-Qquea → Segment Cusipata-Santa Cruz de Occobamba N is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Cusipata-Santa Cruz de Occobamba N → Segment Portada Rumiqolqa-ch’Uspitacana is 67 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Portada Rumiqolqa-ch’Uspitacana → Segment Plaza Inca Hanan: Hauk’aypataqolla is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Plaza Inca Hanan: Hauk’aypataqolla → back through Segment Portada Rumiqolqa-ch’Uspitacana is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment Portada Rumiqolqa-ch’Uspitacana → back through Segment Cusipata-Santa Cruz de Occobamba N is 67 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment Cusipata-Santa Cruz de Occobamba N → back through Segment Machaqmarka-Raqchi-Qquea is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment Machaqmarka-Raqchi-Qquea → Segment Chiwuanquiri is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.