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.
396 km from Cusipata to Cusipata, about 7 h 20 of riding. On the way it passes Segment Chiwuanquiri, Segment Portada Rumiqolqa-ch’Uspitacana and back through Segment Chiwuanquiri. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 4,450 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
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 is where the day begins. Next is Segment Chiwuanquiri.
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 comes up about 66 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 198 km into the recorded legs you reach Segment Portada Rumiqolqa-ch’Uspitacana. Next is back through 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 through Segment Chiwuanquiri, late in the day. Next is 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 at Segment Cusipata-Santa Cruz de Occobamba N. That is the ride.
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.
Segment Chiwuanquiri → Segment Portada Rumiqolqa-ch’Uspitacana is 132 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Segment Portada Rumiqolqa-ch’Uspitacana → back through Segment Chiwuanquiri is 132 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through 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.