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.
137 km from Tulcán to Tulcán, about 4 h 23 of riding. On the way it passes San Pedro, Chitarran and back through San Pedro. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 3,450 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.
Tulcán is the last Ecuadorian city before Colombia, a high, cold, windswept place at almost 3,000 metres, and it has one of the strangest sights in the Andes: a cemetery where cypress trees have been clipped into elaborate topiary, with figures, arches and geometric shapes, a tradition started by a local gardener in the 1930s. Near the city, the segment of Inca road between Pulcas and Troya is part of the Qhapaq Ñan World Heritage Site, marking the northern reaches of the Inca road system, which extended into what is now southern Colombia.
Read the complete Segment Pulcas - Troya A write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Pulcas - Troya A is where the day begins. Next is San Pedro.
Ipiales is the last big Colombian town before Ecuador, and the high, cold plateau around it is some of the most dramatic farmland in the Andes. San Pedro lies a little north-west of the city, in a landscape of terraces, small farms and green slopes that tilt toward the canyon of the Guáitara river. The land is at about 2,900 metres and above, so mornings begin with frost on the grass and a hard blue sky.
Read the complete San Pedro write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
San Pedro comes up 21 km in. Next is Chitarran.
In the high Andes of southern Colombia, near the border with Ecuador, the Inca road network reached its northern limit. The Qhapaq Ñan, as the system is called, stretched from here to central Chile, and a few segments in the department of Nariño are part of the UNESCO listing of 2014. Chitarrán is one of these, a stretch of old road near the villages of Córdoba, Contadero and Iles, in a landscape of green hills, ravines and patchwork fields at altitudes of over two thousand metres.
Read the complete Chitarran write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
42 km in you reach Chitarran. Next is back through San Pedro.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete San Pedro write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through San Pedro, late in the day. Next is Segment Pulcas - Troya A.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Pulcas - Troya A write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Segment Pulcas - Troya A. That is the ride.
Segment Pulcas - Troya A → San Pedro is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
San Pedro → Chitarran is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Chitarrán → back through San Pedro is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through San Pedro → Segment Pulcas - Troya A is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.