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 Cuenca it runs 98 km to Cuenca; allow about 2 h 01 of riding. On the way it passes Historic Centre of Santa Ana de los Ríos d, Segment Cerro de Cojitambo and back through Historic Centre of Santa Ana de los Ríos d. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 3,800 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 19 km this is Avenue of the Volcanoes, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
The Incas built a road across the Andes that stretched for thousands of kilometres, linking Quito, Cusco and far beyond, and parts of it still survive in Ecuador. Llaviuco is a short surviving segment, listed by UNESCO as part of the Qhapaq Ñan, the great Andean road system. It lies inside Cajas National Park, in a landscape of high moorland, small lakes and cloud forest, above Cuenca. The stones of the old road are set in the ground by hand, and walking them gives a direct sense of how this empire moved people, messengers and llamas through the mountains.
Read the complete Segment Llaviuco - Llaviuco write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Llaviuco - Llaviuco is where the day begins. Next is Historic Centre of Santa Ana de los Ríos d.
High in the southern Ecuadorian Andes, at about 2,500 metres, Cuenca was founded by the Spanish in 1557 on a grid plan, on the site of an Inca city called Tomebamba, which was itself built over an earlier Cañari settlement. The colonial centre, with its cobbled streets, whitewashed houses with wooden balconies, churches and plazas, was inscribed by UNESCO in 1999, and the blue-tiled domes of the new cathedral are the city's landmark. The Tomebamba river runs through the city, lined with parks and old houses perched on the bank.
Read the complete Historic Centre of Santa Ana de los Ríos d write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Historic Centre of Santa Ana de los Ríos d comes up about 19 km into the recorded legs. Next is Segment Cerro de Cojitambo.
Cojitambo is a rocky hill that rises abruptly above the valley of Azogues, in the province of Cañar, in the southern Andes of Ecuador. Its summit and slopes hold the remains of a Cañari and Inca settlement, with walls, terraces and stairways, and the Inca road ran past it, a segment of the Qhapaq Ñan listed by UNESCO. The Cañari were the people of this region before the Inca conquest, and they resisted fiercely, later siding with the Spanish against their Inca overlords. Today the hill is also a popular spot for rock climbing, with routes on its cliffs.
Read the complete Segment Cerro de Cojitambo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 48 km into the recorded legs you reach Segment Cerro de Cojitambo. Next is back through Historic Centre of Santa Ana de los Ríos d.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Historic Centre of Santa Ana de los Ríos d write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Historic Centre of Santa Ana de los Ríos d, late in the day. Next is Segment Llaviuco - Llaviuco.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Llaviuco - Llaviuco write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Segment Llaviuco - Llaviuco. That is the ride.
Segment Llaviuco - Llaviuco → Historic Centre of Santa Ana de los Ríos d is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historic Centre of Santa Ana de los Ríos d → Segment Cerro de Cojitambo is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Cerro de Cojitambo → back through Historic Centre of Santa Ana de los Ríos d is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Historic Centre of Santa Ana de los Ríos d → Segment Llaviuco - Llaviuco is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.