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.
201 km from San Gabriel to San Gabriel, about 4 h 34 of riding. It goes by way of Rumichaca, Rosal de Chapal and back through Rumichaca. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 3,400 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Ecuador into Colombia - carry ID and check the toll rules. The line favours views over speed.
Up in Carchi, Ecuador's northernmost province, a short stretch of old stone-edged road near San Gabriel is all that is left visible of something enormous. The Qhapaq Ñan, the Inca road system, ran from what is now southern Colombia to central Chile and Argentina, tens of thousands of kilometres of paths, stairways and causeways that tied the empire together. The segment between Mariscal Sucre and El Tambo is one of the pieces listed by UNESCO in 2014 as part of that network. A tambo was a waystation, a place where runners and travellers could rest and resupply, so the name itself tells you what stood here.
Read the complete Segment Mariscal Sucre - El Tambo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Mariscal Sucre - El Tambo is where the day begins. Next is Rumichaca.
The border between Colombia and Ecuador crosses a gorge, and for centuries people have crossed it on a natural stone bridge. Rumichaca, from Quechua for stone bridge, spans the Carchi river a few kilometres from Ipiales, and it was an Inca route long before the modern frontier existed. Today it is a busy international crossing, with a customs complex on the Colombian side and the city of Tulcán waiting on the Ecuadorian side, and the old rock arch sits in a small park among the buildings, easy to miss amid the lorries.
Read the complete Rumichaca write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Rumichaca comes up about 51 km into the recorded legs. Next is Rosal de Chapal.
High in the department of Nariño, in Colombia's far southwest, the land folds into deep canyons cut by the Guáitara River, and the old Inca road, the Qhapaq Ñan, threads along the slopes. Rosal de Chapal is one of the surviving fragments of that road on the Colombian side, a stretch of track near the small towns of Funes, Iles and Contadero. The Qhapaq Ñan, a network of roads that tied the Inca empire together from present day Colombia to Chile and Argentina, was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2014, and Nariño holds its northernmost sections.
Read the complete Rosal de Chapal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 97 km into the recorded legs you reach Rosal de Chapal. Next is back through Rumichaca.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Rumichaca write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Rumichaca, late in the day. Next is Segment Mariscal Sucre - El Tambo.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Mariscal Sucre - El Tambo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Segment Mariscal Sucre - El Tambo. That is the ride.
Segment Mariscal Sucre - El Tambo → Rumichaca is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Rumichaca → Rosal de Chapal is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Rosal de Chapal → back through Rumichaca is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Rumichaca → Segment Mariscal Sucre - El Tambo is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.