Machu Picchu
The challenge.
Organised by Charity Challenge, with whom I cycled from Saigon to Angkor Wat in 2012, The cycle from Machu Picchu to the Amazon involves high altitude, steep hills and sleeping under canvas at near zero temperatures.
Preparation and expectation
Since the Amazon is lower than Machu Picchu, there will be more downhill than up but there are still some stiff climbs, as this excerpt from the itinerary for day 6 indicates:
"You will spend the night, camping at 3950m (13.000ft) where the vista is fantastic. The ride today has an ascent of 1150m and a descent of 600m. The average cycle time is 7-8 hours"
Training hasn't been so easy in the run up, to the event; I haven't kept to the training schedule as I would have liked as, following my Collis-Nissen fundoplication revision surgery at the end of April, I have had recurrent bouts of discomfort, known by the unglamorous name of "Dumping Syndrome", when I've preferred not to be in the saddle.
I'm hoping I'll be OK for the trip.
My itinerary:
Day 1: Thursday / Friday: Fly Heathrow Terminal 5 - Madrid - Lima - Cuzco - overnight in hotel
Day 3: Saturday: Guided tour of Machu Picchu - overnight in hostel
Day 4: Sunday: Cycle along Sacred Valley to Pisac (mainly flat 4-5 hours) - overnight camping
Day 5: Monday: Ascent & descent in the Andes (6-7 hours) - overnight camping
Day 6: Tuesday: Descent to Paucartambo & challenging climb to Tres Cruces:
"You will spend the night camping at 3950m where the vista is fantastic. The ride today has an ascent of 1150m and a descent of 600m. the average cycle time is 7-8 hours.
Day 7: Wednesday: Descent into Cloud forest (4-5 hours) - overnight camping.
Day 8: Thursday: Cycle deeper into the rainforest (6-7 hours) - overnight camping.
Day 9: Friday: Transfer to Cuzco - celebratory dinner and overnight in hotel.
Day 10: Saturday / Sunday: Return flights to Heathrow.
Friday 3 October 2014
Arrived in Cusco after 3 flights: London to Madrid (2¾ hours), Madrid to Lima (11 hours) and Lima to Cusco (1 hour).
At 12,000 feet everything seems like hard work but we walk around and explore the city - which involves climbing lots of steps.
Saturday 4 October 2020
Up early to be bussed a couple of hours to Ollantaytambo to catch the train to Machu Picchu.
The ride was fast and hairy - but all Peruvian drivers seem to drive the same way.
The train ride was good in an observation coach with glass roof to view the mountainsides and the river valley the route follows.
Then there was another bus up the steep hillside to the ancient Inca ruins. And eventually we reached our destination - this incredible city built 600 years ago on terraces fashioned out of the rocks atop a mountainside at 8,000 feet.
Then back via bus and train to a hotel in Ollantaytambo, dinner and a good night's sleep because tomorrow we start our challenge.
I guess most have seen pictures of this ancient Inca city before but the reality of being there was breath-taking (and not just because of the altitude).
Day 4: Sunday 5 October
Today is the first day on our bikes. - an acclimatisation ride along the Sacred Valley to Pisac on fairly good roads without too many gradients, though ascents made difficult by my bike's refusal to get into first gear! I did find it hard going and this was meant to be the easy cycling day! It ended with a long downhill to our campsite awaiting us. I'm sharing a tent with Robert who was my room companion on my Saigon - Angkor Wat challenge. The support crew cook us a fantastic meal but, still experiencing considerable discomfort after eating, I cannot eat much and ask the cooks to only prepare me half sized portions in future.
Day 5: Monday 6 October
It was the next day (after the inevitable early start again) that we eventually took to our bikes for an “easy” day's cycle at altitude on good roads along the Sacred Valley with few gradients.Easy if my gears had worked properly!
Tuesday 7 October 2020
Today starts deceptively easily. It is a downhill run into the town of Paucartambo where we have to cross a river at just 1000 feet.
It's an interesting and colourful town with interesting modern statues and some of the residents dressing up in masks for a festival.
But now we reach the hardest part of the journey.- the long, steep uphill cycle to Tres Cruces at 15,000 feet on very rough roads.
The views along the way are stunning as we get higher but after some hours, we eventually arrive through cloud and rain, cold and wet at the campsite. Fortunately there is a large cabin here where we may eat in the dry and there's soon a large log fire burning to warm us up. As has become our norm over the last couple of days, we turn in early (about 8:00pm) so we can be up to see the sunrise which we've been promised is spectacular. It has stopped raining and the full moon shines like a floodlight.
Wednesday 8 October 2020
So we're up at 4:00 am to see the sunrise and the views are certainly everything that was promised with mountain range after mountain range gradually getting more distinct and paler blue into the far distance and a "sea" of clouds between them looking like a turbulent lake.
Now we leave the campsite and begin the downhill section of the route into the cloud forest and rain forest of the Amazon basin.
Thursday 9 October 2020
The two days downhill through jungle were not so tiring on the legs but were demanding on the arms and concentration as we attempted to avoid the boulders that could have precipitated us over the crumbly edge of the road to a drop of hundreds of feet.
But we eventually reached our destination – the River Amazon where we removed the road grime with an enjoyable swim.A tough challenge but some great experiences.
Friday 10th October
Having spent our last night under canvas we returned to Cusco by minibus, taking all day to retrace the route we had taken. It was amazing to see how far we had cycled - and how treacherous the road was!
Back in a hotel it was great to have a hot shower, a proper toilet and a good bed - after a celebratory dinner, of course.
Saturday, Sunday and Monday 11th, 12th 13th October - The long journey home.
A mechanical fault with our flight from Cusco resulted in our missing the intercontinental flight from Lima so our travel plans were delayed by 24 hours.