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 616 km round trip from Cuenca - roughly 14 h 14 in the saddle. On the way it passes Segment San Antonio - San Antonio, Segment Paredones - Paredones, Segment El Tambo - Honorato Vásquez and back through Segment Paredones - Paredones. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 3,800 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
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 Segment San Antonio - San Antonio.
What I can say is that the point lies on the steep western slope of the Andes, in the country between the highlands near Cuenca and the coastal plain, with Naranjal the nearest real town, thirty-odd kilometres off on the lowlands.
Read the complete Segment San Antonio - San Antonio write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment San Antonio - San Antonio comes up about 78 km into the recorded legs. Next is Segment Paredones - Paredones.
West of Cuenca the Andes fall away towards the Pacific in one of the most dramatic descents on the continent, from the cold lakes and páramo of the Cajas massif to the hot banana plantations of the coastal plain. Paredones, a small Inca site in the Molleturo area on this western flank, takes its name from the stone walls, paredones, that survive among the grass: remains of buildings, enclosures and a stretch of the Qhapaq Ñan that crossed these mountains between the highlands and the coast. It is part of the Andean road system inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2014.
Read the complete Segment Paredones - Paredones write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 151 km into the recorded legs you reach Segment Paredones - Paredones. Next is Segment El Tambo - Honorato Vásquez.
High in the southern Andes of Ecuador, in the province of Cañar, a stretch of Inca road runs between the small towns of El Tambo and Honorato Vásquez, part of the Qhapaq Ñan World Heritage Site. The name El Tambo itself comes from the Inca word for a waystation, where travellers could rest and find supplies. This route was part of the great road that ran north from Cusco to Quito, and in this area it passed close to Ingapirca, the largest Inca site in Ecuador.
Read the complete Segment El Tambo - Honorato Vásquez write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment El Tambo - Honorato Vásquez, about halfway. Next is back through Segment Paredones - Paredones.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Paredones - Paredones write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Segment Paredones - Paredones sits at 198 km, about halfway. Next is back through Segment San Antonio - San Antonio.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment San Antonio - San Antonio write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Segment San Antonio - San Antonio comes up about 537 km into the recorded legs. 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.
Segment Llaviuco - Llaviuco closes the day.
Segment Llaviuco - Llaviuco → Segment San Antonio - San Antonio is 78 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment San Antonio - San Antonio → Segment Paredones - Paredones is 73 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Paredones - Paredones → Segment El Tambo - Honorato Vásquez is 158 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Segment El Tambo - Honorato Vásquez → back through Segment Paredones - Paredones is 155 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Segment Paredones - Paredones → back through Segment San Antonio - San Antonio is 73 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment San Antonio - San Antonio → Segment Llaviuco - Llaviuco is 79 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.