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 231 km round trip from Tiahuanaco - roughly 4 h 22 in the saddle. The stops in between: Segment Desaguadero Titijoni, Segment Arbolera-Parcco Chua Chua, Segment Pomata-Chaca Chaca and back through Segment Arbolera-Parcco Chua Chua. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 4,150 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Bolivia into Peru - carry ID and check the toll rules.
On the Bolivian altiplano, a few dozen kilometres west of La Paz, the old Inca road runs across a plateau lifted nearly four thousand metres into the sky. This segment of the Qhapaq Ñan is part of the road network that UNESCO recognised in 2014, and it passes near Tiwanaku, the great pre-Inca city whose carved gateways and monoliths stand on the flat plain close to Lake Titicaca. An apacheta is a cairn of stones left by travellers at a pass or a high point, each stone a small offering to the mountain spirits, the apus, and the habit has not died, so you will still find them piled by the roadside, sometimes with coca leaves or a bottle of alcohol beside.
Read the complete Segment Kallamarka-Apacheta write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Kallamarka-Apacheta is where the day begins. Next is Segment Desaguadero Titijoni.
At around 3,800 metres above sea level the air on the Altiplano is thin enough to make lacing your boots feel like exercise, and Desaguadero is a place where you should take everything at half speed. The town sits on the border between Peru and Bolivia at the southern end of Lake Titicaca, where the Desaguadero river drains the lake toward the south. The segment of old road near Titijoni is part of the Qhapaq Ñan, the Inca road network listed by UNESCO in 2014, which ran along the shores of Titicaca on its way between Cusco and the southern provinces.
Read the complete Segment Desaguadero Titijoni write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Desaguadero Titijoni comes up about 57 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 85 km into the recorded legs you reach Segment Arbolera-Parcco Chua Chua. 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.
Segment Pomata-Chaca Chaca, about halfway. Next is back through Segment Arbolera-Parcco Chua Chua.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Arbolera-Parcco Chua Chua write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Segment Arbolera-Parcco Chua Chua sits at 164 km, about halfway. Next is back through Segment Desaguadero Titijoni.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Desaguadero Titijoni write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Segment Desaguadero Titijoni comes up about 173 km into the recorded legs. Next is Segment Kallamarka-Apacheta.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Kallamarka-Apacheta write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Kallamarka-Apacheta closes the day.
Segment Kallamarka-Apacheta → Segment Desaguadero Titijoni is 57 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Segment Desaguadero Titijoni → 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 → Segment Pomata-Chaca Chaca is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Pomata-Chaca Chaca → back through Segment Arbolera-Parcco Chua Chua is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment Arbolera-Parcco Chua Chua → back through Segment Desaguadero Titijoni is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment Desaguadero Titijoni → Segment Kallamarka-Apacheta is 57 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.