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 Puno it runs 255 km to Puno; allow about 4 h 59 of riding. The stops in between: Segment Juli-Cruz Pata-Ccaje, Segment Pomata-Chaca Chaca, Segment Arbolera-Parcco Chua Chua and back through Segment Pomata-Chaca Chaca. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 4,150 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Puno sits on the shore of Lake Titicaca at about 3,800 metres, and the stretch between Jayllihuaya and Ichu runs along the edge of town into the open altiplano. Jayllihuaya is a district on the western side of Puno; Ichu is the name of a river and of the tough bunch grass, ichu, that blankets the high plateau and feeds llamas, alpacas and the little sheep that wander the verges. The label belongs to the Qhapaq Ñan, the Inca road system that tied this far southern province, Collasuyu, to Cusco, and the old trail is the thread that connects these segments.
Read the complete Segment Jayllihuaya-Ichu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Jayllihuaya-Ichu is where the day begins. Next is Segment Juli-Cruz Pata-Ccaje.
Juli sits on the south-western shore of Lake Titicaca at close to 3,900 metres, and the air is so thin and clear that the far side of the lake, in Bolivia, seems close enough to touch. The town is nicknamed the Rome of the Americas for its cluster of colonial churches, built by Dominican and Jesuit missionaries in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, with carved stone façades and dim interiors full of paintings. Just outside town, the segment of Inca road between Juli and Cruz Pata Ccaje is part of the Qhapaq Ñan, the Andean road system inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2014. This route, the Urcosuyu branch, ran along the lake towards what is now Bolivia.
Read the complete Segment Juli-Cruz Pata-Ccaje write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Juli-Cruz Pata-Ccaje comes up about 77 km into the recorded legs. Next is Segment Pomata-Chaca Chaca.
On the southern shore of Lake Titicaca, between Juli and the Bolivian border, the Inca road ran along the edge of the lake at nearly four thousand metres, linking Cusco with the lands of Collasuyu, the southern quarter of the empire. The Pomata section of the Qhapaq Ñan, part of the World Heritage listing of the Inca road system, follows the shore through Aymara villages, terraced hills and fields of potatoes, quinoa and broad beans, with the immense blue lake always beside you. The light at this altitude is intense, the air thin and dry, and the lake changes colour with every passing cloud.
Read the complete Segment Pomata-Chaca Chaca write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 100 km into the recorded legs you reach Segment Pomata-Chaca Chaca. Next is Segment Arbolera-Parcco Chua Chua.
At close to four thousand metres, on the Peruvian shore of Lake Titicaca, the air is thin enough that walking briskly feels like work and the light is so sharp it seems to sharpen the edges of everything. This stretch belongs to the Qhapaq Ñan, the great Andean road network that the Inca built and extended across their empire, and here it runs through Aymara farming country between the towns of Yunguyo and Desaguadero, both about twenty kilometres away, with the Bolivian border a short distance east.
Read the complete Segment Arbolera-Parcco Chua Chua write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Arbolera-Parcco Chua Chua, about halfway. Next is back through Segment Pomata-Chaca Chaca.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Pomata-Chaca Chaca write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Segment Pomata-Chaca Chaca sits at 192 km, about halfway. Next is back through Segment Juli-Cruz Pata-Ccaje.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Juli-Cruz Pata-Ccaje write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Segment Juli-Cruz Pata-Ccaje comes up about 180 km into the recorded legs. Next is Segment Jayllihuaya-Ichu.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Jayllihuaya-Ichu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Jayllihuaya-Ichu closes the day.
Segment Jayllihuaya-Ichu → Segment Juli-Cruz Pata-Ccaje is 77 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Segment Juli-Cruz Pata-Ccaje → Segment Pomata-Chaca Chaca is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Pomata-Chaca Chaca → Segment Arbolera-Parcco Chua Chua is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Arbolera-Parcco Chua Chua → back through Segment Pomata-Chaca Chaca is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment Pomata-Chaca Chaca → back through Segment Juli-Cruz Pata-Ccaje is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment Juli-Cruz Pata-Ccaje → Segment Jayllihuaya-Ichu is 77 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.