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 407 km round trip from Lares - roughly 7 h 55 in the saddle. On the way it passes Segment Plaza Inca Hanan: Hauk’aypataqolla, Segment Cusipata-Santa Cruz de Occobamba N and back through Segment Plaza Inca Hanan: Hauk’aypataqolla. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 4,450 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 112 km this is Sacred Valley Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Along the heights above the Sacred Valley of the Incas, a footpath of stone and earth winds across the mountains, and this is one tiny part of one of the greatest road systems ever built. The Qhapaq Ñan was the road network of the Inca empire, some thirty thousand kilometres of trail linking the coast, the Andes and the forests of what are now six countries. UNESCO listed it in 2014, and the Cusco region, the heart of the empire, has some of the best-preserved stretches, many of them with the original stone paving, steps cut into the rock and retaining walls that have survived five centuries of rain.
Read the complete Segment Choquecancha-Paucarpata write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Choquecancha-Paucarpata is where the day begins. 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 comes up about 112 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 204 km into the recorded legs you reach Segment Cusipata-Santa Cruz de Occobamba N. Next is back through Segment Plaza Inca Hanan: Hauk’aypataqolla.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Plaza Inca Hanan: Hauk’aypataqolla write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Segment Plaza Inca Hanan: Hauk’aypataqolla, late in the day. Next is Segment Choquecancha-Paucarpata.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Choquecancha-Paucarpata write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Segment Choquecancha-Paucarpata. That is the ride.
Segment Choquecancha-Paucarpata → Segment Plaza Inca Hanan: Hauk’aypataqolla is 112 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Segment Plaza Inca Hanan: Hauk’aypataqolla → Segment Cusipata-Santa Cruz de Occobamba N is 92 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Segment Cusipata-Santa Cruz de Occobamba N → back through Segment Plaza Inca Hanan: Hauk’aypataqolla is 92 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Segment Plaza Inca Hanan: Hauk’aypataqolla → Segment Choquecancha-Paucarpata is 112 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.