Segment Tambillo - Pincosh and Segment Canrash - Torrepampa
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
391 km
Riding-time estimate
11 h 08
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: 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.
From Huachis it runs 391 km to Huachis; allow about 11 h 08 of riding. It goes by way of Segment Cajay - Huaritambo, Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana, Segment Canrash - Torrepampa and back through Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 4,200 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Segment Tambillo - Pincosh
This is high, remote country. The Tambillo to Pincosh segment of the Qhapaq Ñan crosses the puna of the Ancash and Huánuco highlands, east of the Cordillera Blanca, at altitudes of around four thousand metres, part of the stretch of the Inca road that ran north from Cusco through the Andes towards Quito. The road here was the main artery of the empire, with tambos, way stations, every day's walk or so, where travellers, messengers and armies could rest and find supplies. Tambillo, the little tambo, suggests one of those stations. Today, the road survives as a stone-paved path with retaining walls and drainage channels, crossing open grassland, wetlands and passes, and it is one of the best-preserved sections of the network, listed by UNESCO along with the rest of the Qhapaq Ñan.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Segment Tambillo - Pincosh is where the day begins. Next is Segment Cajay - Huaritambo.
2. Segment Cajay - Huaritambo
Few riders ever get this far into the Conchucos, the deep valleys on the eastern side of Peru's Cordillera Blanca, and that is half the reason to come. The label refers to a stretch of the Qhapaq Ñan, the Inca road network that ran for thousands of kilometres along the Andes, here crossing between the hamlet of Cajay and Huaritambo, whose name preserves the word tambo, the waystation where runners and travellers on imperial business could rest, eat and change loads. Parts of the paving, retaining walls and drainage channels still survive on slopes where it is hard to imagine anyone building anything at all.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Segment Cajay - Huaritambo comes up about 44 km into the recorded legs. Next is Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana.
3. 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 108 km into the recorded legs you reach Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana. Next is Segment Canrash - Torrepampa.
4. 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Segment Tambillo - Pincosh closes the day.
Leg by leg
Segment Tambillo - Pincosh to Segment Cajay - Huaritambo
Segment Tambillo - Pincosh → Segment Cajay - Huaritambo is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Cajay - Huaritambo to Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana
Segment Cajay - Huaritambo → Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana to Segment Canrash - Torrepampa
Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana → Segment Canrash - Torrepampa is 85 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Canrash - Torrepampa to back through Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana
Segment Canrash - Torrepampa → back through Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana is 89 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana to back through Segment Cajay - Huaritambo
back through Segment QÑ-HH-051 - Inca Misana → back through Segment Cajay - Huaritambo is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment Cajay - Huaritambo to Segment Tambillo - Pincosh
back through Segment Cajay - Huaritambo → Segment Tambillo - Pincosh is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.