La Vuelta Ciclistica al Peru welcomes The Cycle Diaries

Just as we left Cajamarca we had the good fortune to see the national cycling tour of Peru which started that day. Compared to our labours they were only doing 900km, all on tarmac and no-one had panniers on. Pah! However it was a fine sight with speeches, brass band and a mass start.

Meanwhile back at the coal-face, we have had three days to Huamachuco through continuing hilly scenery and rural scenicness (see photo of typical roadside diner for lunch). We have a rugged bit of Peru next before we reach Huaraz and the mighty mountains of the Cordillera Blanca.

A day on the road

We´ve pedalled (and bussed a bit - shh!) from Chachapoyas to Cajamarca over five days and are now in the Northern Highlands. The highlight of the leg was from the River Utcubamba to the (big) River Maranon - an Amazon tributary. There was a six-hour climb to a pass at 3700m (Clive was puffing here) then, after a night camped at a local´s ´farm´, a massive 50km descent into the huge valley. Next destination: Huamachuco.

Thought an overview of a typical day in the saddle might be interesting, so here goes: Life starts early in the Andes, with the cockerels crowing hard by 5am and the locals up and about by 6am, so there isn´t much of a lie-in. We´re normally on the road by 9, ´road´ being a dirt affair of graded stones and grit. The main factor each day is not the distance along, but the amount of climbing involved, as one big ascent becomes the dominant feature of the day - 1500m is our limit. Hopefully we pass a ´restaurant´ sometime for lunch (chicken and rice are the recurring staples), then it´s more pedalling and a lookout for accommodation by 4pm (as being near the Equator it gets dark early and quickly at 6.30pm). Overnight is a hospedaje, typically simple but serviceable places, then more food (cycling makes you very hungry). Yes, it is demanding, but the scenery has been generally impressive, sometimes spectacular, and a bicycle soon breaks down barriers with locals and really allows you to see, hear and smell a country up close.

Hard-core cycle touring

Hello from Peru. We´re back up in the Andes (much to Liz´s relief) in Chachapoyas, a peaceful and scenic colonial place. If it seems like we have covered lots of ground since our last post, it´s all due to the, er, complementary forms of transport shown above. A couple of dodgy stomachs and a long, hot road made us do it. (We´ll be pedalling again tomorrow, honest). We did choose the remotest border crossing, with poor dirt roads either side, which slowed us, but brought some super green mountain scenery. The next destination is Celedin, for those using a highlighter or a drawing pin, in about five days. Initial impressions of Peru are again of genuine, helpful people and lots more contour lines. However the hunt for Paddington Bear continues...

Adios Ecuador

Today we cycled from Loja to Vilcabamba, a very sleepy town about 100km north of the Peruvian border. Before we head off into the wilds over the coming days, here´s a quick record of the highlights of Ecuador.

1) Bananas. They are everywhere and taste amazing - we´ve been on at least three a day.
2) Churrasco. An ample dish consisting of beef, vegetables, rice, chips and two fried eggs on top - great for starving cyclists.
3) Impressive public transport. Buses seem to go from everywhere to everywhere at ten- minute intervals and no eyebrows raised at taking bikes (not that we did that very often, of course ...).
4) Incredibly cheap accommodation. Simple but always clean and welcoming to weary cyclists.
5) Drivers. All (except taxis) have been very considerate on the road, always giving us lots of room and beeping cheerfully.

Our only disappointment has been the cloudy conditions preventing us from seeing any of Ecuador´s iconic snow-capped volcanoes. We could feel their presence though and I guess that´s a good reason to come back to this lovely country one day.

So our next entry will be from Peru. Let´s hope we´ll enjoy tarmac for a few more days at least.

Up and running

OK, we´re on the road properly now. We have reached Cuenca, an attractive colonial city in southern Ecuador. Handy as it´s a Rest Day (like they have in the Tour de France). Cuenca´s a nice place for mooching about in, once you´ve done a lot of sleeping and some laundry. It is quite reminiscent of Spain (the colonial power of old).

We took four days to get here from Riobamba and, to be frank, is been tough. We´ve averaged 50km a day (up to 98km once!), which sounds rather wet, but also around 1000m of daily ascent with passes at 3500m and 40kg of bike and kit. So the muscles are coming along nicely.

The roads have got a lot quieter as we´ve got away from Quito. Rural Ecuador is jolly scenic, with big green hills (see above) and gentle farming life. The locals are genuine, warm souls and we are each equally curious of the other. The are sympathetic on the road, but also incessantly noisy (alarms, shouting and trucks all at 3am = earplugs every night).

Some early lessons

Finally got the bikes on Weds 29th after a flurry of paperwork and literally running around the cargo depot ... then left Quito on Thurs a.m. The first hour was probably the worst cycling experience of our lives ... uphill, very hot, and choked by stinking diesel lorries. We then left the main road enticed by reference to a good cycling route on the map. This turned out to be a hellish cobbled track, made even more enjoyable by long steep sections requiring bike pushing.The upshot being that we failed to reach our destination, Machachi, but then stumbled across a lovely national park campsite, complete with roaming llamas.

The second day was equally challenging, with a lot more cobbles (including more uphills) until we reached a dead end at 3,700m. Enough for one day so we knocked it on the head and retreated to El Chaupi and stayed in a freezing but hospitable hostaria.

Today (Sat) has been much more enjoyable, on decent tarmaced (!!) backroads, bringing us to Latacunga. Tough lessons learned include 1) there´s little tarmac off the Panamericana (the M1 equivalent) 2) cobbles are not an option 3) when locals say ´no problem, it´s flat´, it means no more than 1 in 10 gradient.

So, we´ll continue to work our way south to Banos and Riobamba. More anon.