CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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 660 km round trip from Cusco - roughly 14 h 15 in the saddle. It goes by way of Segment Machucucho-Choquecancha, Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu and back through Segment Machucucho-Choquecancha. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 4,100 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 77 km this is Sacred Valley Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
Every road of the Inca empire began here. The great square of Cusco, which the Incas called Hauk'aypata, was the ceremonial heart of Tawantinsuyu, the land of the four quarters, and from it the main roads radiated out to the four parts of the empire, to Quito in the north, to Chile and Argentina in the south, to the jungle in the east and the coast in the west. The square was much larger than today's Plaza de Armas and was covered, according to the chroniclers, with sand brought from the coast, in which offerings of gold and silver were buried. Here, mummies of past rulers were brought out for festivals, and the Inca received ambassadors and celebrated victories.
Read the complete Segment Plaza Inca Hanan: Hauk’aypataqolla write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Plaza Inca Hanan: Hauk’aypataqolla is where the day begins. Next is Segment Machucucho-Choquecancha.
The Urubamba river is the great artery of Inca country, and everything near it feels like a rehearsal for Machu Picchu. This segment of the Qhapaq Nan, the Inca road network listed by UNESCO in 2014, runs between two places named Machucucho and Choquecancha in the highlands north-east of Cusco, where side valleys climb from the main river towards high passes and snow peaks.
Read the complete Segment Machucucho-Choquecancha write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Machucucho-Choquecancha comes up 74 km in. Next is Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu.
Machu Picchu is the most famous place in the Andes, and it is also one of the hardest to reach for a rider, because no road goes there. The sanctuary is about thirty kilometres from Ollantaytambo, on a ridge nearly twenty-four hundred metres above the sea, above a loop of the Urubamba river, with cloud forest on every side. The citadel is reached only by train or by walking, and then by a bus up a zigzag road from the town of Aguas Calientes, at the foot of the mountain.
Read the complete Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
148 km in you reach Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu. Next is back through Segment Machucucho-Choquecancha.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Machucucho-Choquecancha write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Segment Machucucho-Choquecancha, late in the day. Next is Segment Plaza Inca Hanan: Hauk’aypataqolla.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Plaza Inca Hanan: Hauk’aypataqolla write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Segment Plaza Inca Hanan: Hauk’aypataqolla. That is the ride.
Segment Plaza Inca Hanan: Hauk’aypataqolla → Segment Machucucho-Choquecancha is 71 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Segment Machucucho-Choquecancha → Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu is 77 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu → back through Segment Machucucho-Choquecancha is 77 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Segment Machucucho-Choquecancha → Segment Plaza Inca Hanan: Hauk’aypataqolla is 71 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.