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.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 624 km round trip from Conchucos - roughly 18 h 33 in the saddle. It goes by way of Segment Cotocancha - Alturas de Torre, Segment Lomas de Huarin - Matacocha, Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana and Segment Canrash - Torrepampa. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 3,900 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
The Inca built roads the way other empires built walls, as a statement of power, and the high stretches in the northern Andes of Peru show it best. This segment of the Qhapaq Nan, the great network that the Incas extended over some thirty thousand kilometres, runs through steep country between the Santa river canyon and the high valleys of Conchucos, where the road goes where it must, up flights of stone steps, along retaining walls and across ravines on bridges of woven grass rope.
Read the complete Segment Quinrraycueva - Pariachuco write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Quinrraycueva - Pariachuco is where the day begins. Next is 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.
Read the complete Segment Cotocancha - Alturas de Torre write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Cotocancha - Alturas de Torre comes up 40 km in. Next is 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.
Read the complete Segment Lomas de Huarin - Matacocha write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
79 km in you reach Segment Lomas de Huarin - Matacocha. Next is 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.
Read the complete Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana, about halfway. Next is Segment Canrash - Torrepampa.
The Inca road network, the Qhapaq Ñan, once linked an empire stretching from Colombia to Chile, and this segment, between Canrash and Torrepampa, runs through the high valleys of the Conchucos region in Ancash, east of the Cordillera Blanca. The Inca road here was a stone-paved trail, with steps, retaining walls and drainage channels, built for runners, soldiers and llama caravans rather than wheels. Much of it survives, winding along hillsides above the river valleys, and it is part of the transnational World Heritage listing for the Andean road system.
Read the complete Segment Canrash - Torrepampa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segment Canrash - Torrepampa sits at 158 km, about halfway. Next is back through Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana comes up 198 km in. Next is back through Segment Lomas de Huarin - Matacocha.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Lomas de Huarin - Matacocha write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
237 km in you reach back through Segment Lomas de Huarin - Matacocha. Next is back through Segment Cotocancha - Alturas de Torre.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Cotocancha - Alturas de Torre write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Segment Cotocancha - Alturas de Torre, late in the day. Next is Segment Quinrraycueva - Pariachuco.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Quinrraycueva - Pariachuco write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 624 km.
Segment Quinrraycueva - Pariachuco → Segment Cotocancha - Alturas de Torre is 72 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Segment Cotocancha - Alturas de Torre → Segment Lomas de Huarin - Matacocha is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Lomas de Huarin - Matacocha → Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana → Segment Canrash - Torrepampa is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Canrash - Torrepampa → back through Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana → back through Segment Lomas de Huarin - Matacocha is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment Lomas de Huarin - Matacocha → back through Segment Cotocancha - Alturas de Torre is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment Cotocancha - Alturas de Torre → Segment Quinrraycueva - Pariachuco is 72 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.