No pain, no gain

The first month or so on the road has definitely been a challenge (physically, logistically, culturally, linguistically, digestively, etc.) but when we looked out of our hotel room this morning and were presented with the view in the photo, all those hours in the saddle suddenly seemed more than worth the effort. We are in Huaraz, mountaineering Mecca of South America, surrounded by 23 peaks over 5,000m and with a clear view of Huascaran, the highest mountain in Peru at over 6,700m. Heaven! Even though we are a little late in the season, the forecast is good and so we are planning to do a five-day trek (up to a 4,700m pass) to get us even closer to these stunning peaks. We´ll pedal up the valley to Caraz tomorrow, which should be a lovely day out in itself, and then store the bikes before heading off on foot.

Some statistics, for those who enjoy facts and figures ... we´ve now spent 20 days in the saddle, covered 993km, and climbed a staggering 16,630m (twice the height of Everest).