Segment Lomas de Huarin - Matacocha and Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
348 km
Riding-time estimate
9 h 53
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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 Llama it runs 348 km to Llama; allow about 9 h 53 of riding. On the way it passes Segment Cotocancha - Alturas de Torre, Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana and back through Segment Cotocancha - Alturas de Torre. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 3,900 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Segment Lomas de Huarin - Matacocha
Few places in Peru feel as far from Lima as the eastern side of the Cordillera Blanca, in the Conchucos country of the Ancash region. The Inca road here was a mountain track, climbing from the valley of the Marañón up to the high grasslands, and the segment from Lomas de Huarin to Matacocha, part of the UNESCO Qhapaq Ñan listing of 2014, runs through a landscape of steep green slopes, terraced fields, small hamlets and a sky that feels very close. The towns are Pomabamba, a market town known for hot springs, and Yauya, a smaller place in a side valley, with farms and a busy Sunday market.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Segment Lomas de Huarin - Matacocha is where the day begins. Next is Segment Cotocancha - Alturas de Torre.
2. Segment Cotocancha - Alturas de Torre
High on the eastern side of the Cordillera Blanca, in the Conchucos valleys of Ancash, a stretch of the old Inca road crosses grassy ridges between Cotocancha and the heights known as Alturas de Torre. This is part of the Qhapaq Ñan, the vast Andean road network that tied the Inca empire together, inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2014. The main trunk here ran north from Huánuco Pampa towards Cajamarca, and in places you can still see stone paving, retaining walls, drainage channels and steps.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Segment Cotocancha - Alturas de Torre comes up about 37 km into the recorded legs. Next is Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana.
3. Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana
Five hundred years ago a runner could have passed this spot carrying a knotted quipu or a message for the governor in Huánuco Pampa, handing it on at the next post in a relay that crossed the Andes faster than a horse. This short stretch, catalogued as segment QÑ-HH-051 near Inca Misana, is a fragment of the Qhapaq Ñan, the Inca road system that linked an empire from southern Colombia to central Chile. The whole network was listed by UNESCO in 2014 across six countries, and what you find on the ground here in Ancash is often modest: a line of stone paving, a retaining wall, a set of steps cut into a slope, running across high grassland with the mountains standing all around.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Segment Lomas de Huarin - Matacocha. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Segment Lomas de Huarin - Matacocha to Segment Cotocancha - Alturas de Torre
Segment Lomas de Huarin - Matacocha → Segment Cotocancha - Alturas de Torre is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Cotocancha - Alturas de Torre to Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana
Segment Cotocancha - Alturas de Torre → Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana is 136 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana to back through Segment Cotocancha - Alturas de Torre
Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana → back through Segment Cotocancha - Alturas de Torre is 138 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment Cotocancha - Alturas de Torre to Segment Lomas de Huarin - Matacocha
back through Segment Cotocancha - Alturas de Torre → Segment Lomas de Huarin - Matacocha is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.