Why this ride
It goes by way of Segment Paredones - Paredones, Segment Botija Paqui - Botija Paqui and back through Segment Paredones - Paredones. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 3,200 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Segment Santa Martha - Santa Martha and Segment Botija Paqui - Botija Paqui
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 287 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 56
- 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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Segment Santa Martha - Santa Martha
If Mamamag is the top of the climb, Santa Martha is the other end of the story: the foothills where the Andes tip into the coastal plain, thirty-odd kilometres from Naranjal and a long way from anywhere that feels like highland. The air is thicker and wetter here, and the vegetation changes from tussock grass to ferns, bamboo and the dense green of the western slopes.
Read the complete Segment Santa Martha - Santa Martha write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Segment Santa Martha - Santa Martha is where the day begins. Next is Segment Paredones - Paredones.
2. Segment Paredones - Paredones
West of Cuenca the Andes fall away towards the Pacific in one of the most dramatic descents on the continent, from the cold lakes and páramo of the Cajas massif to the hot banana plantations of the coastal plain. Paredones, a small Inca site in the Molleturo area on this western flank, takes its name from the stone walls, paredones, that survive among the grass: remains of buildings, enclosures and a stretch of the Qhapaq Ñan that crossed these mountains between the highlands and the coast. It is part of the Andean road system inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2014.
Read the complete Segment Paredones - Paredones write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Segment Paredones - Paredones comes up about 86 km into the recorded legs. Next is Segment Botija Paqui - Botija Paqui.
3. Segment Botija Paqui - Botija Paqui
Naranjal is the opposite of the high Andes. Down on the coastal plain of southern Ecuador, the air is hot and humid, the land is green and flat, and the farms grow bananas, cacao and, increasingly, shrimp in ponds along the estuaries. Yet the same Inca road system that crosses the mountains near Cuenca came down to this coast, and the segment at Botija Paqui is a stretch of it that UNESCO lists among the Qhapaq Ñan sites. The road was both a highway and a statement, linking distant provinces to the empire's heart.
Read the complete Segment Botija Paqui - Botija Paqui write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 145 km into the recorded legs you reach Segment Botija Paqui - Botija Paqui. Next is back through Segment Paredones - Paredones.
4. back through Segment Paredones - Paredones
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Paredones - Paredones write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Segment Paredones - Paredones, late in the day. Next is Segment Santa Martha - Santa Martha.
5. Segment Santa Martha - Santa Martha
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Segment Santa Martha - Santa Martha write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Segment Santa Martha - Santa Martha. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Segment Santa Martha - Santa Martha to Segment Paredones - Paredones
Segment Santa Martha - Santa Martha → Segment Paredones - Paredones is 86 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Paredones - Paredones to Segment Botija Paqui - Botija Paqui
Segment Paredones - Paredones → Segment Botija Paqui - Botija Paqui is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Botija Paqui - Botija Paqui to back through Segment Paredones - Paredones
Segment Botija Paqui - Botija Paqui → back through Segment Paredones - Paredones is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment Paredones - Paredones to Segment Santa Martha - Santa Martha
back through Segment Paredones - Paredones → Segment Santa Martha - Santa Martha is 86 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.