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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 588 km round trip from Quinuabamba - roughly 10 h 07 in the saddle. The stops in between: Segment Lomas de Huarin - Matacocha, Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana, Segment Canrash - Torrepampa and Segment Otutococha - QÑ-HH-051. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 3,950 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
High on the eastern side of the Cordillera Blanca, in the Conchucos valleys of Ancash, a stretch of the old Inca road crosses grassy ridges between Cotocancha and the heights known as Alturas de Torre. This is part of the Qhapaq Ñan, the vast Andean road network that tied the Inca empire together, inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2014. The main trunk here ran north from Huánuco Pampa towards Cajamarca, and in places you can still see stone paving, retaining walls, drainage channels and steps.
Read the complete Segment Cotocancha - Alturas de Torre write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Cotocancha - Alturas de Torre is where the day begins. Next is Segment Lomas de Huarin - Matacocha.
Few places in Peru feel as far from Lima as the eastern side of the Cordillera Blanca, in the Conchucos country of the Ancash region. The Inca road here was a mountain track, climbing from the valley of the Marañón up to the high grasslands, and the segment from Lomas de Huarin to Matacocha, part of the UNESCO Qhapaq Ñan listing of 2014, runs through a landscape of steep green slopes, terraced fields, small hamlets and a sky that feels very close. The towns are Pomabamba, a market town known for hot springs, and Yauya, a smaller place in a side valley, with farms and a busy Sunday market.
Read the complete Segment Lomas de Huarin - Matacocha write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Lomas de Huarin - Matacocha comes up about 43 km into the recorded legs. Next is Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana.
Five hundred years ago a runner could have passed this spot carrying a knotted quipu or a message for the governor in Huánuco Pampa, handing it on at the next post in a relay that crossed the Andes faster than a horse. This short stretch, catalogued as segment QÑ-HH-051 near Inca Misana, is a fragment of the Qhapaq Ñan, the Inca road system that linked an empire from southern Colombia to central Chile. The whole network was listed by UNESCO in 2014 across six countries, and what you find on the ground here in Ancash is often modest: a line of stone paving, a retaining wall, a set of steps cut into a slope, running across high grassland with the mountains standing all around.
Read the complete Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 139 km into the recorded legs you reach Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana. Next is Segment Canrash - Torrepampa.
The Inca road network, the Qhapaq Ñan, once linked an empire stretching from Colombia to Chile, and this segment, between Canrash and Torrepampa, runs through the high valleys of the Conchucos region in Ancash, east of the Cordillera Blanca. The Inca road here was a stone-paved trail, with steps, retaining walls and drainage channels, built for runners, soldiers and llama caravans rather than wheels. Much of it survives, winding along hillsides above the river valleys, and it is part of the transnational World Heritage listing for the Andean road system.
Read the complete Segment Canrash - Torrepampa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Canrash - Torrepampa, about halfway. Next is Segment Otutococha - QÑ-HH-051.
East of the Cordillera Blanca, in the region of Ancash known as the Conchucos, the Inca road system, the Qhapaq Ñan, crossed some of the most rugged terrain of its entire network. This segment, near the small town of Yauya, is part of the main road that ran north from Cusco to Quito through the high Andes, linking administrative centres such as Huánuco Pampa to the south. The Inca engineers laid stone paving, built steps on steep slopes, retaining walls and drainage channels, and stretches of the road can still be walked today, threading across high grasslands and past lakes at altitudes well over three and a half thousand metres. The whole network, which crosses six countries, became a World Heritage site in 2014.
Read the complete Segment Otutococha - QÑ-HH-051 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Otutococha - QÑ-HH-051 sits at 295 km, about halfway. Next is back through Segment Canrash - Torrepampa.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Canrash - Torrepampa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Segment Canrash - Torrepampa comes up about 384 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 451 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana. Next is back through Segment Lomas de Huarin - Matacocha.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Lomas de Huarin - Matacocha write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Segment Lomas de Huarin - Matacocha, late in the day. Next is Segment Cotocancha - Alturas de Torre.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Cotocancha - Alturas de Torre write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 588 km.
Segment Cotocancha - Alturas de Torre → Segment Lomas de Huarin - Matacocha is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Lomas de Huarin - Matacocha → Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana is 96 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana → Segment Canrash - Torrepampa is 67 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Canrash - Torrepampa → Segment Otutococha - QÑ-HH-051 is 89 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Otutococha - QÑ-HH-051 → back through Segment Canrash - Torrepampa is 89 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment Canrash - Torrepampa → back through Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana is 67 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana → back through Segment Lomas de Huarin - Matacocha is 96 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment Lomas de Huarin - Matacocha → Segment Cotocancha - Alturas de Torre is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.