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CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE

Segment Turi Norte and Segment Lasana Norte

Plan this ride

Recorded distance
475 km
Riding-time estimate
11 h 37
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.

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Why this ride

On the way it passes Segment Lasana Norte, Segment Cupo-Topain, Segment Incahuasi Norte and back through Segment Incahuasi Norte. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 4,150 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

  1. 1. Segment Turi Norte

    The Inca built roads, and the greatest of them stretched down the Andes for thousands of kilometres. The Qhapaq Nan, the Andean road system, ran from Colombia to Chile and Argentina, linking farms, forts, storehouses and shrines, and UNESCO listed a large part of it in 2014. In northern Chile, segments of the road cross the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth, and the section near Turi is among the best preserved.

    Read the complete Segment Turi Norte write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Segment Turi Norte is where the day begins. Next is Segment Lasana Norte.

  2. 2. Segment Lasana Norte

    Lasana is a place where the desert makes a promise and keeps it. A few kilometres north of the oasis village of Chiu-Chiu, in northern Chile, the Loa river, the only river that crosses the Atacama, cuts a green gorge through the dry hills, with fields of alfalfa, willows and bright reeds, and on a rocky hill above the water stand the ruins of a pukará, a pre-Hispanic fortress of stone walls and terraces. The people who lived here, the Atacameño, lived in the oasis for centuries, farming maize, quinoa and potatoes, and later the Inca arrived and built roads, storehouses and administrative posts. This section of the Qhapaq Ñan, part of the six-nation UNESCO listing of 2014, passes through the area.

    Read the complete Segment Lasana Norte write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Segment Lasana Norte comes up about 46 km into the recorded legs. Next is Segment Cupo-Topain.

  3. 3. Segment Cupo-Topain

    In the far north of Chile, the Atacama Desert holds some of the driest ground on Earth, and the Loa river is the only stream that crosses it, carving a green line through the sand and rock. The road between Cupo and Topain follows a stretch of the Inca trail through this country, high in the Andean foothills above Calama and San Pedro de Atacama, a segment of the Qhapaq Nan, the Inca road network inscribed by UNESCO in 2014.

    Read the complete Segment Cupo-Topain write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    about 128 km into the recorded legs you reach Segment Cupo-Topain. Next is Segment Incahuasi Norte.

  4. 4. Segment Incahuasi Norte

    The Inca built a road system, the Qhapaq Ñan, that ran for tens of thousands of kilometres through six modern countries, from Colombia to Chile and Argentina, and parts of it climb into the driest desert in the world. This segment lies in the Atacama region of northern Chile, on high ground at the edge of the salt basins and volcanoes, somewhere in the great arid country east of Calama and San Pedro de Atacama. The roadbed there is a modest affair, a cleared path edged with stones, sometimes with small waystations, enclosures and cairns, and its purpose was to link the capital Cusco with the far southern edge of the empire and to carry runners, llama caravans and soldiers.

    Read the complete Segment Incahuasi Norte write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Segment Incahuasi Norte, about halfway.

  5. 5. Segment Lasana Norte

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Segment Lasana Norte write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Segment Lasana Norte sits at 155 km, about halfway. Next is back through Segment Incahuasi Norte.

  6. 6. back through Segment Incahuasi Norte

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Segment Incahuasi Norte write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    back through Segment Incahuasi Norte comes up about 259 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Segment Cupo-Topain.

  7. 7. back through Segment Cupo-Topain

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Segment Cupo-Topain write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    about 343 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Segment Cupo-Topain. Next is back through Segment Lasana Norte.

  8. 8. back through Segment Lasana Norte

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Segment Lasana Norte write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    back through Segment Lasana Norte, late in the day. Next is Segment Turi Norte.

  9. 9. Segment Turi Norte

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Segment Turi Norte write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    The route ends here after 475 km.

Leg by leg

Segment Turi Norte to Segment Lasana Norte

Segment Turi Norte → Segment Lasana Norte is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Segment Lasana Norte to Segment Cupo-Topain

Segment Lasana Norte → Segment Cupo-Topain is 82 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Segment Cupo-Topain to Segment Incahuasi Norte

Segment Cupo-Topain → Segment Incahuasi Norte is 88 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Segment Incahuasi Norte to Segment Lasana Norte

Segment Incahuasi Norte → Segment Lasana Norte is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Segment Lasana Norte to back through Segment Incahuasi Norte

Segment Lasana Norte → back through Segment Incahuasi Norte is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Segment Incahuasi Norte to back through Segment Cupo-Topain

back through Segment Incahuasi Norte → back through Segment Cupo-Topain is 84 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Segment Cupo-Topain to back through Segment Lasana Norte

back through Segment Cupo-Topain → back through Segment Lasana Norte is 86 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Segment Lasana Norte to Segment Turi Norte

back through Segment Lasana Norte → Segment Turi Norte is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

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