Three things happened this morning.
1) I tried to scrub the dirt off my ankles in the shower, only to realise they are now so tanned that the contrast with my little white feet is so stark that I will only ever be able to wear ankle boots from December onwards! That is unless I embrace the cycle tan and use my paws to imitate a tuxedo puppy!
2) Thanks to my sunglasses, my face now has natural, permanent contouring. Of course some of you might say I'm channeling my best panda look ever, but I say Charlotte Tilbury would be proud. I hear she's added it to her list of 'looks', its called the travelling panda... Coming to the Covent garden store soon!
3) Thanks to alternating between cycling gloves and no cycling gloves, I've managed to create a series of stripey lines on my hands: Finger tips to second knuckles, pale (except index finger that is crispy brown... I've honestly no idea!!); then a dark 2cm stripe across my knuckles; followed by pale rest of fingers until you reach the back of my hand that is starting to turn crispy brown. Seriously who knows how this happened, just that it has, and I'm proud of my new zebra tan, I'm sure every fake tan salon will be imitating it soon... Just you wait!
And this doesn't even take into account the fact that every time Ant sees my back he tells me my shoulder blades are like dark angel wings... Thankfully I can't see them so they don't count!
Time to embrace the cycle tan!!
Monday, 29 August 2016
Day 22 - Juli to Copacabana (65km) and our first border crossing Sunday 28th August
What an epic day. We started out with a sharp, half hour climb out of Juli, feeling somewhat breathless (partly due to the altitude, partly due to the smoke from all the farmers setting their fields alight).
Once we hit the 3S we had a beautiful 6km descent followed by about 40km gentle rolling slopes with some sections of road purely flat, but all with the wind on our back and all running alongside the lake (that simply gets more beautiful as you head away from Puno and towards Bolivia).
Just before we took a sharp left hand turn towards the Bolivian border we noticed a small whirling of dust, which was actually the start of a tornado impersonating a dust devil. It was fascinating to watch the small swirls start to reach up to the sky and grow bigger and bigger. Thankfully it was only ever a mini tornado at best, and was never a threat, but what a fantastic phenomenon to observe.
As we turned the corner, I pondered how the tornado had formed and after some analysis of the wind direction on both sections of road, concluded that two equal but opposite vectors were acting along the same plane, separated by a distance d... Perhaps I should have anticipated this, but it took me a "couple" of moments to figure it out! (I like to test my brain every now and then to make sure it's still functioning!). Apologies for the geekery.
Ant was again, in his element, enjoying the spectacular event of nature. I watched with analytical anticipation as it grew in size, secretly hoping it wouldn't get big enough to start lifting cows (and gringos on bikes) but never quite (until now) voicing me fears, as I'd been scared enough of the elements yesterday!
So on we (now painfully slowly) trudged into a strong blustery cross wind, that almost halved our speed. Up and down hills, fighting the wind, we soon decided the only way to combat this was to take it easy and chat to pass the time, rather than grind the pedals hard with little progress.
Soon enough we reached the border.
Now in my mind there would be military, police, guns, fighting, scary figures (probably all the action figure baddies too), lined up opposing us as we fearfully edged closer and closer to our goal (why this image... Who knows! Welcome to my crazy brain!).
In reality it was an exciting and very pleasant experience. On the Peruvian side there were many market stalls (just in case you hadn't quite got all the hats, llama impersonating teddy bears, and gigantic popcorn you needed), money exchangers (who offered Ant a better than market rate... Apparently he knows about these things!), and very happy smiley officials at the immigration office on both sides, intrigued about our travels and keen to wish us well.
Ant now doing his "we're in our second country and its super cool" song and dance (quite a spectacular performance when atop a loaded bike), we continued into Bolivia slightly apprehensive about encountering road blocks. Thankfully for now at least, they had all been dismantled, leaving only the odd mound of Earth, tree stumps, sometimes whole trees, and glass to navigate our way through.
Soon enough we'd made it to the glorious town of Copacabana. Yes it's very touristy, yes very hippie, yes it has a beach with peddalos, yes it has western food... But hey... A bit of luxury never hurt anyone!
Ant found a brilliant hotel "La Cupula" which although not cheap at 44 USD per night, is well worth every penny. A lovely restaurant and beautiful view over the lake.
So here we are for a rest day tomorrow (don't expect a post, I imagine we will be mostly eating, drinking beer, reading, sun bathing and lying down... That's what you're supposed to do on holiday right?!), then we will probably venture for a day trip to the Isla del Sol on Tuesday, before departing for La Paz on Wednesday (hopefully, road blocks permitting, will be there by Thursday night, and we get to take a boat!!).
So now we shall rest our tired legs and go find pasta. Hugs to all xxx
Once we hit the 3S we had a beautiful 6km descent followed by about 40km gentle rolling slopes with some sections of road purely flat, but all with the wind on our back and all running alongside the lake (that simply gets more beautiful as you head away from Puno and towards Bolivia).
Just before we took a sharp left hand turn towards the Bolivian border we noticed a small whirling of dust, which was actually the start of a tornado impersonating a dust devil. It was fascinating to watch the small swirls start to reach up to the sky and grow bigger and bigger. Thankfully it was only ever a mini tornado at best, and was never a threat, but what a fantastic phenomenon to observe.
As we turned the corner, I pondered how the tornado had formed and after some analysis of the wind direction on both sections of road, concluded that two equal but opposite vectors were acting along the same plane, separated by a distance d... Perhaps I should have anticipated this, but it took me a "couple" of moments to figure it out! (I like to test my brain every now and then to make sure it's still functioning!). Apologies for the geekery.
Ant was again, in his element, enjoying the spectacular event of nature. I watched with analytical anticipation as it grew in size, secretly hoping it wouldn't get big enough to start lifting cows (and gringos on bikes) but never quite (until now) voicing me fears, as I'd been scared enough of the elements yesterday!
So on we (now painfully slowly) trudged into a strong blustery cross wind, that almost halved our speed. Up and down hills, fighting the wind, we soon decided the only way to combat this was to take it easy and chat to pass the time, rather than grind the pedals hard with little progress.
Soon enough we reached the border.
Now in my mind there would be military, police, guns, fighting, scary figures (probably all the action figure baddies too), lined up opposing us as we fearfully edged closer and closer to our goal (why this image... Who knows! Welcome to my crazy brain!).
In reality it was an exciting and very pleasant experience. On the Peruvian side there were many market stalls (just in case you hadn't quite got all the hats, llama impersonating teddy bears, and gigantic popcorn you needed), money exchangers (who offered Ant a better than market rate... Apparently he knows about these things!), and very happy smiley officials at the immigration office on both sides, intrigued about our travels and keen to wish us well.
Ant now doing his "we're in our second country and its super cool" song and dance (quite a spectacular performance when atop a loaded bike), we continued into Bolivia slightly apprehensive about encountering road blocks. Thankfully for now at least, they had all been dismantled, leaving only the odd mound of Earth, tree stumps, sometimes whole trees, and glass to navigate our way through.
Soon enough we'd made it to the glorious town of Copacabana. Yes it's very touristy, yes very hippie, yes it has a beach with peddalos, yes it has western food... But hey... A bit of luxury never hurt anyone!
Ant found a brilliant hotel "La Cupula" which although not cheap at 44 USD per night, is well worth every penny. A lovely restaurant and beautiful view over the lake.
So here we are for a rest day tomorrow (don't expect a post, I imagine we will be mostly eating, drinking beer, reading, sun bathing and lying down... That's what you're supposed to do on holiday right?!), then we will probably venture for a day trip to the Isla del Sol on Tuesday, before departing for La Paz on Wednesday (hopefully, road blocks permitting, will be there by Thursday night, and we get to take a boat!!).
So now we shall rest our tired legs and go find pasta. Hugs to all xxx
Day 21 - Puno to Juli (85km) Saturday 27th August
Today was the day that Ant was in his (and the weather God's) element, and I was quaking like a leaf.
I didn't quite get him to write this post but I shall paraphrase his thoughts below (to give you a much more positive take on the day!). It should be noted that he did spend a lot of time saying "hello me Julie", every time we saw the town signposted! So in the words of Ant...
"I remember wanker traffic to start with that thinks its ok to give you no space on the road, whether going in the same direction or over taking head on towards you. Meeting cool cycle tourists going the other way who gave us great info about Bolivian road blocks, the route to Chile and got us super excited about Argentinian wine country.
AND THE MOST EPIC THUNDER STORM EVER!!
4 hours of cycling across a plain with really vivid fork lighting striking the high hills in front of us, behind us, and on each side... Literally surrounded! The most amazing thunderstorm ever, and we didn't even see any rain!
Brilliant, not only due to the spectacular scenes created by nature, but also because it got Emma seriously shifting to get to the next town quickly! Not sure I've ever seen her cycle so fast!
Eventually got to the lovely town square that is Juli, that was atop a small, but leg destructive hill at the end of a day, that had me suffering. Found a comfortable room for only 30 PEN (about £8), with a beautiful lake view (but broken toilet seat!) and most importantly, finally found milk, cereal, yoghurt, water and a massive bag of crisps in a shop!
Bloody great day cycle touring!"
And in the words of Emma: "Can we go home now? I never want to do that again!!".
I didn't quite get him to write this post but I shall paraphrase his thoughts below (to give you a much more positive take on the day!). It should be noted that he did spend a lot of time saying "hello me Julie", every time we saw the town signposted! So in the words of Ant...
"I remember wanker traffic to start with that thinks its ok to give you no space on the road, whether going in the same direction or over taking head on towards you. Meeting cool cycle tourists going the other way who gave us great info about Bolivian road blocks, the route to Chile and got us super excited about Argentinian wine country.
AND THE MOST EPIC THUNDER STORM EVER!!
4 hours of cycling across a plain with really vivid fork lighting striking the high hills in front of us, behind us, and on each side... Literally surrounded! The most amazing thunderstorm ever, and we didn't even see any rain!
Brilliant, not only due to the spectacular scenes created by nature, but also because it got Emma seriously shifting to get to the next town quickly! Not sure I've ever seen her cycle so fast!
Eventually got to the lovely town square that is Juli, that was atop a small, but leg destructive hill at the end of a day, that had me suffering. Found a comfortable room for only 30 PEN (about £8), with a beautiful lake view (but broken toilet seat!) and most importantly, finally found milk, cereal, yoghurt, water and a massive bag of crisps in a shop!
Bloody great day cycle touring!"
And in the words of Emma: "Can we go home now? I never want to do that again!!".
Puno - fluffy beds and kayaking
So we treated ourselves to a lovely lakeside hotel, with crisp clean feather duvets and pillows, a massive breakfast buffet and chilled out for a whole day!
We found a wonderful restaurant "colours" for some less authentic, but amazingly delicious western food and enjoyed having enough WiFi to face time Fran, Mary and bear :)
Our second rest day, was less star fishing in two separate double beds, and more get the guns out and kayak as fast as our little oxygenless hearts could carry us. It was simply stunning. We took a tour with Edgar travel, were picked up from our hotel at 7am, taken along with about 20 other people by boat (with relaxing leather seats) to a peninsula. Looking around we were uncertain we'd got the right boat and transfer, very few people looked willing (or able) to do anything remotely sporty, but our fears were soon relieved when we realised only 6 of us were kayakers, we'd get dropped off before taquille island and kayak the rest of the way, while the others travelled there in style.
That we did, and how absolutely beautiful and peaceful it was to kayak in the middle of lake Titicaca (have to say it carefully as titi means puma and caca if pronounced wrong means poo!!). It was absolutely stunning and despite listening to our tired arms, we made it there in (apparently) record time! Wahoo (competitive us... never!).
The afternoon was much more relaxed, eating traditional Peruvian lunch (that we know to be slightly less authentic and more luxurious than they made out!), and the high point, visiting the floating reed island communities. Fascinating to see how the islands are made and take a jaunt on a reed boat.
Happy but knackered we got back to our feather beds and ordered room service (cheeky!) to fuel up ready for tomorrow's cycle and start of our journey to Bolivia.
(we even watched 2 films on cable in English in bed whilst eating... Pure heaven... What a treat!).
We found a wonderful restaurant "colours" for some less authentic, but amazingly delicious western food and enjoyed having enough WiFi to face time Fran, Mary and bear :)
Our second rest day, was less star fishing in two separate double beds, and more get the guns out and kayak as fast as our little oxygenless hearts could carry us. It was simply stunning. We took a tour with Edgar travel, were picked up from our hotel at 7am, taken along with about 20 other people by boat (with relaxing leather seats) to a peninsula. Looking around we were uncertain we'd got the right boat and transfer, very few people looked willing (or able) to do anything remotely sporty, but our fears were soon relieved when we realised only 6 of us were kayakers, we'd get dropped off before taquille island and kayak the rest of the way, while the others travelled there in style.
That we did, and how absolutely beautiful and peaceful it was to kayak in the middle of lake Titicaca (have to say it carefully as titi means puma and caca if pronounced wrong means poo!!). It was absolutely stunning and despite listening to our tired arms, we made it there in (apparently) record time! Wahoo (competitive us... never!).
The afternoon was much more relaxed, eating traditional Peruvian lunch (that we know to be slightly less authentic and more luxurious than they made out!), and the high point, visiting the floating reed island communities. Fascinating to see how the islands are made and take a jaunt on a reed boat.
Happy but knackered we got back to our feather beds and ordered room service (cheeky!) to fuel up ready for tomorrow's cycle and start of our journey to Bolivia.
(we even watched 2 films on cable in English in bed whilst eating... Pure heaven... What a treat!).
Friday, 26 August 2016
Day 20 - Lampa to Puno...Wednesday 24th August (80km)
Today was the day we just got it done. We were both more than ready for a break and good plate of food, so it was head down and pedal hard.
The first 35km from Lampa to Juliaca were pleasant enough... If I'm honest I can't really remember much of the cycle, Ant and I were too busy putting the world to rights. But I know it was flat (we could talk), fast paced and fairly beautiful on a quiet road (with several llamas watching us go passed).
Juliaca is not a town I'd particularly recommend unless you need to take a flight... Industrial and very busy. Jigsawing our bikes through the lunch time heavily polluted traffic, is not particularly pleasant, but as always an hour later that was behind us and we were heads down again for the last flat 25km then up and over the last lump into Puno.
Except it wasn't quite that straightforward (when is it ever!). This time our enemy was a strong head wind whilst we rode in the hard shoulder of the 3S (which was busy here, trucks busses etc).
They were however laying a new road along side so we hopped over the barrier sneakily, and had the joy of a quiet 10km shared only with the gravel trucks. Ant lived this, slaloming all over the newly laid tarmac, I just wanted to get it done. Then the new road ran out so we hopped over the barrier the other side of the 3S onto a dirt track that ran along the other side (slower and more bumpy, but better than the heart pounding moments busses pass you at a lot more than the 80km/h speed limit!).
After what seemed like forever, we were on the final climb and I was suffering. But as always it came and went and we soon descended into Puno... Huraah at last!
and now we sit, in our gorgeous hotel, stunning hot shower, bath tub, feather clean crisp duvets, on two huge double beds (one each tonight I think... Starfish!!).
a well earned supper is about to be demolished (we've already decided to order 3 main courses!) and then we will probably stay flat for 24hours!
we made it... We actually cycled from Cusco to Puno... Yeah baby!!!
(Now bring me my food!)
The first 35km from Lampa to Juliaca were pleasant enough... If I'm honest I can't really remember much of the cycle, Ant and I were too busy putting the world to rights. But I know it was flat (we could talk), fast paced and fairly beautiful on a quiet road (with several llamas watching us go passed).
Juliaca is not a town I'd particularly recommend unless you need to take a flight... Industrial and very busy. Jigsawing our bikes through the lunch time heavily polluted traffic, is not particularly pleasant, but as always an hour later that was behind us and we were heads down again for the last flat 25km then up and over the last lump into Puno.
Except it wasn't quite that straightforward (when is it ever!). This time our enemy was a strong head wind whilst we rode in the hard shoulder of the 3S (which was busy here, trucks busses etc).
They were however laying a new road along side so we hopped over the barrier sneakily, and had the joy of a quiet 10km shared only with the gravel trucks. Ant lived this, slaloming all over the newly laid tarmac, I just wanted to get it done. Then the new road ran out so we hopped over the barrier the other side of the 3S onto a dirt track that ran along the other side (slower and more bumpy, but better than the heart pounding moments busses pass you at a lot more than the 80km/h speed limit!).
After what seemed like forever, we were on the final climb and I was suffering. But as always it came and went and we soon descended into Puno... Huraah at last!
and now we sit, in our gorgeous hotel, stunning hot shower, bath tub, feather clean crisp duvets, on two huge double beds (one each tonight I think... Starfish!!).
a well earned supper is about to be demolished (we've already decided to order 3 main courses!) and then we will probably stay flat for 24hours!
we made it... We actually cycled from Cusco to Puno... Yeah baby!!!
(Now bring me my food!)
Wednesday, 24 August 2016
Day 19 - Ayavari to Lampa (76km), Tuesday 23rd August
Finally, I can honestly say that we enjoyed absolutely everything about today, this is what our cycle touring dreams are made of.
Ok so the breakfast place I'd hung all my hopes on didn't actually open at 9am (and was still fully shut at gone 10 when we finally left), but we found very tasty pastries in a local bakers, and were on the road soon enough.
And what a road it was! Fairly quiet, and FLAT! Surrounded by mountains to still provide the amazing beautiful scenery that we've been spoilt with. We had enough energy to chat away all morning (all day in fact!) and came across another cycle tourist from Columbia, travelling from Puno to Lima, great to stop and have a quick chat.
The first 50km were absolute heaven, we travelled at over 20km/h for most of it and even got up as high as 35km/h at one point! Glancing around at the beautiful mountains all around us (we were clearly in a plateau) and really enjoying everything. The scenery, the cycling, the ability to chat, the relative lack of traffic, the llamas who appeared every now and then, the smiles and waves we got from the traffic that passed, the wide margins they gave us when they passed, and the speed that we could easily travel at and actually make progress on the smoothest tarmac ever!
We then turned off the main road for the last 26km towards Lampa. All we knew about this road was that it took us to our destination, climbed high then descended into the town. We had no idea if it would be gravel, tarmacked, well kept, busy etc. Turned out it was even smoother tarmac, newly laid probably, we were pretty much the only people on the road except the odd group of children on bikes riding home from school (and super excited to see us!), many many llamas, the cutest llamas ever (this led to a discussion about which are our favourites, llamas or alpacas, and made us revise our previously formed decision that alpacas win... Not so sure now!), and all of this made for an amazingly tranquil and pleasant first 5km of the climb. We even had enough puff to sing! Then the road turned steeper and limited our vocal ability, but strangely we were both really enjoying the challenge of the climb and ever so grateful for the lack of gravel!
If the climb was peaceful and beautiful, the descent was flowing, fast, but gradual enough to barely touch the breaks and simply sail around the corners. My favourite part was when the mountains opened up to reveal a glorious view of the entire wide valley and it looked like our road simply dropped of the end... Of course it didn't, but it really was spectacular! Then the last few km rolling into town and we had our standard apprehension.
Will there be hotels, will we get hot water, will anywhere be open. Yes yes and yes.
A lovely little hotel with feather duvets (OMG!), a super lovely owner (who's gonna cook us breakfast in the morning!!!!) and hot water.
The town itself is a really cute old colonial centre. It has a glorious church and square and some beautiful paving in the main street. The roof tiles look about 300years old and are an architectural work of art! Everyone seems extremely friendly (even the lady who Ant was about to buy milk from told him not to buy it as you can't drink it without heating it up... Should have seen his sad little face! He thought he was getting choco ball cereal this evening, bless him!). But we do have a tin of condensed milk, could be a new culinary delight.
We found our new favourite beer in the shops, and enjoyed three portions of chicken and chips for supper (accompanied by some nutritional and flavoursome green soup).
What a fantastic day! Literally, the best day ever. Tomorrow, you have a lot to live up to!
Ok so the breakfast place I'd hung all my hopes on didn't actually open at 9am (and was still fully shut at gone 10 when we finally left), but we found very tasty pastries in a local bakers, and were on the road soon enough.
And what a road it was! Fairly quiet, and FLAT! Surrounded by mountains to still provide the amazing beautiful scenery that we've been spoilt with. We had enough energy to chat away all morning (all day in fact!) and came across another cycle tourist from Columbia, travelling from Puno to Lima, great to stop and have a quick chat.
The first 50km were absolute heaven, we travelled at over 20km/h for most of it and even got up as high as 35km/h at one point! Glancing around at the beautiful mountains all around us (we were clearly in a plateau) and really enjoying everything. The scenery, the cycling, the ability to chat, the relative lack of traffic, the llamas who appeared every now and then, the smiles and waves we got from the traffic that passed, the wide margins they gave us when they passed, and the speed that we could easily travel at and actually make progress on the smoothest tarmac ever!
We then turned off the main road for the last 26km towards Lampa. All we knew about this road was that it took us to our destination, climbed high then descended into the town. We had no idea if it would be gravel, tarmacked, well kept, busy etc. Turned out it was even smoother tarmac, newly laid probably, we were pretty much the only people on the road except the odd group of children on bikes riding home from school (and super excited to see us!), many many llamas, the cutest llamas ever (this led to a discussion about which are our favourites, llamas or alpacas, and made us revise our previously formed decision that alpacas win... Not so sure now!), and all of this made for an amazingly tranquil and pleasant first 5km of the climb. We even had enough puff to sing! Then the road turned steeper and limited our vocal ability, but strangely we were both really enjoying the challenge of the climb and ever so grateful for the lack of gravel!
If the climb was peaceful and beautiful, the descent was flowing, fast, but gradual enough to barely touch the breaks and simply sail around the corners. My favourite part was when the mountains opened up to reveal a glorious view of the entire wide valley and it looked like our road simply dropped of the end... Of course it didn't, but it really was spectacular! Then the last few km rolling into town and we had our standard apprehension.
Will there be hotels, will we get hot water, will anywhere be open. Yes yes and yes.
A lovely little hotel with feather duvets (OMG!), a super lovely owner (who's gonna cook us breakfast in the morning!!!!) and hot water.
The town itself is a really cute old colonial centre. It has a glorious church and square and some beautiful paving in the main street. The roof tiles look about 300years old and are an architectural work of art! Everyone seems extremely friendly (even the lady who Ant was about to buy milk from told him not to buy it as you can't drink it without heating it up... Should have seen his sad little face! He thought he was getting choco ball cereal this evening, bless him!). But we do have a tin of condensed milk, could be a new culinary delight.
We found our new favourite beer in the shops, and enjoyed three portions of chicken and chips for supper (accompanied by some nutritional and flavoursome green soup).
What a fantastic day! Literally, the best day ever. Tomorrow, you have a lot to live up to!
Day 18 - Layo to Ayaviri (65km cycling) Monday 22nd August 2016.
Wow what a day, an emotional roller coaster.
We were up early (6.45 for me 7.00 for Ant) and Ant sourced us an AMAZING breakfast of yoghurt, tinned peaches and granola (Absolute heaven) from our hostal owner who also happens to own a shop of many businesses. He and his wife were super happy to have us stay and really excited about our cycling it was so cute and just the motivation we needed after the grueling day yesterday. They asked us if we had a small English coin as a keepsake (note to self, next trip take small denominations of English wedge), but all we had was a five pound note. Realising it would bring them much more happiness than it would us, we went down and gave it to them... They were absolutely stoked and offered to pay us... Obviously we refused, and after some deliberation I told them what it was worth (viente Peruvian soles, the same as our room cost!)... They were so amazingly happy, whole family gathered around the note with intrigue, stroking it and looking at it... seeing how grateful the family were really spurred us on.
Next stop, the other town shops to try and source sweets and lunch goodies... Not so successful on the lunch front, but we soon found ourselves surrounded by all manner of people: old, young, police, security guards; all so excited about our trip and offering advice on routes and congratulating us / shaking our hands. Ant later remarked that he's pretty sure one guy just kept saying "wow" repeatedly.
So we found ourselves stood in the middle of a market town, semi celebrities and somewhat reluctant to get moving...
... But onwards we went, going against the flow of the many people and animals walking to town (we guess to a Monday meet market, sorry piggies!). We freaked out some cows (sorry cows, guess you've never seen a luminous yellow gringo on a bike before), Ant said "holla" to a pig "holla señor cerdo" (this made the two women walking the pig giggle and smile like children), and stopped for several livestock roadblocks that made us smile.
After a while we started to wonder why so many people were keen to give us route advice on our way out of town. One security guard even drew a map in the sand. They were all keen for us to take the road with more climbing, and harder work... No thanks!
So onwards we ploughed, our spirits incredibly high. Thankful that the road out of town was not rippio, but massive huge rocks (well anything from tennis ball to football size) all over the road. Unfortunately this made it almost impossible to stay upright in some places, throwing the bike left and right under you, staying upright became a challenge in itself, both on the abs and on the mind (thankfully despite many near misses, both of the bikes behaved well enough for us to avoid any road rash) . Once out of town with a km or two under our belts the road quickly dampened my spirit... Ok that's an understatement... I was the most angry I've been on this trip, I think I even kicked some of the rocks and told them I hated them at one point... Though this wasn't quite as amusing (to Ant at least and me in hindsight) as the moment I threw my bike down (thus covering the handle bars in mud which I now very much regret!!), then walked about 100m up the road refusing to cycle (perhaps I was channelling Froome). Ant, bless him, probably trying not to laugh and only taking one or two photos (!), whilst also finding the road incredibly mentally sapping, dug deep and found some encouraging lovely words to pick me (and my poor dusty bike) up.
Another km or two and after being passed by several empty busses, we started to debate whether it was sensible to just hop one of them to the high point... We decided that no, we should plod on, we could do it and just accept the challenge. It would only be 3hours of suffering anyway.
We passed the turning everyone told us to take (feeling somewhat happy we'd planned a better route as we watched it snake almost vertical up the mountain) and started enjoying the day, both our heads finally high and determined.
A motorcyclist stopped us, asked us where we were going and directed us the other way. After some conversation, "is there a road over the mountain this way?" "yes", "ok for bikes", "yes probably", we again plodded on. It was only when several busses signalled at us and one stopped and pulled us over, that we thought perhaps the entire town might be right, and their route might be better. The bus driver was saying there was no road ahead, and his adamant nature made us stop and think (we later found out our planned road existed as we saw it join our road out the other side, but it was probably blocked at some point, hence why the motor cyclist might have thought we could get through).
So after going several km out of our way on the wicked road of doom, we turned back. Having worked so hard to lift our spirits, they were now rock bottom. For some reason the quote of the day that's stayed with me came at this moment from Ant... "that's cycle touring Stew, you roll with the punches, it just seems Peru is very good at delivering them!". (Rolling with the punches, taking the downs and waiting for the ups... At this point it felt no ups would ever come our way... How wrong we were...
We reached the junction for the turning and the steep road up the mountain and agreed that if a bus should come our way we flag it down and take it if they will have us. And just then, out of nowhere as we were literally about to set off heads hung low, a blue truck takes our turning. Our thought process went collectively like this: Lets try and flag it down, it probably won't stop, it's stopped, they might just be offering us a tow, too risky on this stuff, we'll not have the strength to hold on and control the bikes, they're getting out, they're really smiley, they're opening the back, it's empty, oh my gosh, they're actually offering us a lift... (cue the 100 strong gospel choir... ) Hallelujah!!
We had no idea how far up the mountain the truck was going, we just held our heads over the top of the parapet that was the back of the truck ( like two alpacas stretching to see some crazy gringos) and hoped they would keep driving as we watched the km ticked away...
We later found out these incredibly kind gents were llama farmers, heading off up the mountain to round their herd up and take them to a show in Puno... So it turned out we were pretending to be llamas for a massive 6km and 300m climbing... At least a third of what we had to do. (cue gospel music again!)
Yes we still had a hideous 3km left but what a special treat gifted to us by such nice folk. Perhaps some karma for bringing such happiness with the £5 gift earlier? Ant in all his thoughtfulness said... "I think that's the main thing we should do on this trip, share the joy and happiness to folk, that you can only bring when you're a crazy adventuring gringo on a bike, we should make that our priority".
The next 3km was tough, horrible, slow and just plain yucky... Yes I might have thrown my bike down a few times and walked up the hill. Both Ant and I were finding we didn't have the power in our legs needed to get over the huge rocks on very steep hair pins, without being too unstable and being thrown off balance. You need speed to stay upright and I for one just had completely empty legs... Nothing there at all. Ant just about gritted his teeth and used his leg guns, to get up the slopes (much harder for him to push his much heavier bike up the mountain, than just to dig deep and find power where there isn't and keep cycling).
So after about an hour, we reached the top, and the highest we've been yet: 4600m. And wow, neither of us are panting uncontrollably, there are no headaches or sad moods... We are acclimatised!! Finally!
Such a different feel to this highpoint. Surprisingly much more life supporting up here than any of the others we've been to. Greener and more vast rolling lumps, less ragged dusty rocks. Ant even spotted (and got amazingly boyishly excited about seeing) four vicuñas just short of the summit (he'd been sad we'd not seen any llama or alpacas yet this week, they seemed to have been replaced with donkeys until today).
As we turned the corner though, just a few meters below the summet, the mountains opened up into the most incredible view. It had everything: a vast wide open valley, revealing our road and the next 40km we were about to take; rolling green hillsides behind us; jagged rocky volcanic peaks in front; then in the distance the snow capped peaks that any child would draw if you ask them to illustrate a mountain. Simply stunning.
Less stunning was our descent. After the initial promise of a better gravel road, it quickly disintegrated into a rainbow road of doom (similar to what we'd been cycling all day, only much worse in places and damn hard to descend on a loaded bike... There's something saping about working hard to descend at only 10km/h!). Why rainbow? Cue Mario Cart... The colour of the mountain rocks kept changing, from grey to purple to red, to even green and yellow at some points, which led to different colour rocks and dust on the road... A Rainbow road (the one thing that kept my head high). Ant not so much, he was resenting having to take this road (the other would have stayed high and joined the tarmacked main road just in time to descend on that), resenting having to lose 400m hight only having to work hard at the bottom to gain it again, and resenting the beautiful view that showed us our roads and exactly how far we had to descend then ascend again (mapping out at least the next 3hours cycling, that could have been avoided on his alternative route). He was not happy and time now for me to cheer him up... "Look its so pretty, it's a rainbow road, we're like Mario Cart"... Nope not working...ok.
I learned I cannot do hair pins on this stuff whether going up or down (a few hairy slippy slidy moments!). Ant learnt that no matter how frustrating it was, the end would come. And it did... Tarmac wahoo!
But before we embarked on gaining our altitude again, we stopped for lunch at aguas caliente (the supposedly beautiful hot mountain springs everyone in Layo had been going on about). They were not beautiful, not the natural rocky springs we had in mind, just a man made swimming pool style resort containing spring water in large concrete circles and squares that people were bathing in.
Fueled from lunch, but both feeling like our bodies had been stretched, torn, shaken and rattled, I started to talk of the taxi rank I might have spotted at the entrance to the springs. We could just get a cab to the nearest town then finish our day with a flat (ish) 40km tarmac cycle to the big town (capital of the district) with almost certain promise of a hotel (trying not to dream too much of hot water, cosy beds and our own bathroom at this point).
We agreed and negotiated a price from a very confused driver, and soon were on our way. At this point it should be noted how lucky we were to stumble across a taxi rank... They are practically non existent on the routes we've been taking... The cycle touring lottery being kind to us again today.
The final 40km was simply amazing, tarmac and very shallow gradients through a valley plateau at around 3900m, with only a strong cross wind to challenge us (that sometimes had the sense to get on our tails and push us along at a whopping 30km/h). The road wasn't too busy, just one or two kamikaze busses and trucks to give us a bottom clenching moment or two, but fairly infrequent traffic so we could just enjoy the ride. And a glance in Ant's mirror and he said, "blue truck behind... Oh wait... It's the llama farmers, with their llamas!". Lots of waving, honking, cheering and smiles.
Then the small child in Ant who loves animal spotting, saw flamingos and got so excited. We stopped to take photos and let his excitement roll.
We managed to outride the three or four impending mountain storms (yes we saw lightening in the distance in several directions) and seemed to slip through the only channel where the rain and dark grey clouds weren't (thanks cycle touring lottery!). Soon enough we'd made it to the town, with only a few spots of rain on our heads and were cycling through the industrial suburbs.
I seemed to find my Spanish, asking security guards where the best hotels were in town, and they excitedly pointed us to the centre exclaiming "good hotels and a festival, a festival".
We followed their instructions and were soon caught up in the busiest most atmospheric street market we've ever tried to push two massive loaded bikes through (its ok though we didn't attract any attention in our luminous yellow jackets!). "gringo holla" "gringa con bicycletta", "holla" "hello" "buenos tardis". The jubilant atmosphere helped us push on through, and I guess about 20minutes later (and only 3 or 4 blocks walked!) we found the central square with not one but 2, not hostals but hotels, to chose from and the most stunningly beautiful cathedral. Covered in dust, we went to the best looking hotel asked for their best double ensuite room (they asked Ant if he was sure... We must have looked a state, because it was only about £20!) and rejoiced as the hot water ran hot and the bed was clean and comfy. Even the toilet worked properly!
Promising to always remember how good it felt to wash ourselves and our clothes in the steaming shower, we ventured out to the local pizza restaurant (ok we knew their pizza would be rubbish, but anything other than rice potatoes and meat at this point please!), drank beer, found an ice cream parlour for hot chocolate, hot milk, ice cream and chocolate mousse to finish off our supper and went for a quick wonder to walk it all off. The streets had turned into a party, many people drinking beer and eating street food, a fun atmosphere... but not as fun as going to sleep!
So that's just what we did, and now its 8.10am and I really should wake Ant up for the 70km day we have ahead... But I like it here so much and the ice cream place said they do omelettes and fried egg sandwiches for breakfast but don't open until 9am... So if I leave it another 10minutes I could probably tempt him to stay for that :-) sneaky!!!
Much love to all, and here's to (all being well) another 2 day's cycling to get to Puno (if we ever get out of bed of course!).
We were up early (6.45 for me 7.00 for Ant) and Ant sourced us an AMAZING breakfast of yoghurt, tinned peaches and granola (Absolute heaven) from our hostal owner who also happens to own a shop of many businesses. He and his wife were super happy to have us stay and really excited about our cycling it was so cute and just the motivation we needed after the grueling day yesterday. They asked us if we had a small English coin as a keepsake (note to self, next trip take small denominations of English wedge), but all we had was a five pound note. Realising it would bring them much more happiness than it would us, we went down and gave it to them... They were absolutely stoked and offered to pay us... Obviously we refused, and after some deliberation I told them what it was worth (viente Peruvian soles, the same as our room cost!)... They were so amazingly happy, whole family gathered around the note with intrigue, stroking it and looking at it... seeing how grateful the family were really spurred us on.
Next stop, the other town shops to try and source sweets and lunch goodies... Not so successful on the lunch front, but we soon found ourselves surrounded by all manner of people: old, young, police, security guards; all so excited about our trip and offering advice on routes and congratulating us / shaking our hands. Ant later remarked that he's pretty sure one guy just kept saying "wow" repeatedly.
So we found ourselves stood in the middle of a market town, semi celebrities and somewhat reluctant to get moving...
... But onwards we went, going against the flow of the many people and animals walking to town (we guess to a Monday meet market, sorry piggies!). We freaked out some cows (sorry cows, guess you've never seen a luminous yellow gringo on a bike before), Ant said "holla" to a pig "holla señor cerdo" (this made the two women walking the pig giggle and smile like children), and stopped for several livestock roadblocks that made us smile.
After a while we started to wonder why so many people were keen to give us route advice on our way out of town. One security guard even drew a map in the sand. They were all keen for us to take the road with more climbing, and harder work... No thanks!
So onwards we ploughed, our spirits incredibly high. Thankful that the road out of town was not rippio, but massive huge rocks (well anything from tennis ball to football size) all over the road. Unfortunately this made it almost impossible to stay upright in some places, throwing the bike left and right under you, staying upright became a challenge in itself, both on the abs and on the mind (thankfully despite many near misses, both of the bikes behaved well enough for us to avoid any road rash) . Once out of town with a km or two under our belts the road quickly dampened my spirit... Ok that's an understatement... I was the most angry I've been on this trip, I think I even kicked some of the rocks and told them I hated them at one point... Though this wasn't quite as amusing (to Ant at least and me in hindsight) as the moment I threw my bike down (thus covering the handle bars in mud which I now very much regret!!), then walked about 100m up the road refusing to cycle (perhaps I was channelling Froome). Ant, bless him, probably trying not to laugh and only taking one or two photos (!), whilst also finding the road incredibly mentally sapping, dug deep and found some encouraging lovely words to pick me (and my poor dusty bike) up.
Another km or two and after being passed by several empty busses, we started to debate whether it was sensible to just hop one of them to the high point... We decided that no, we should plod on, we could do it and just accept the challenge. It would only be 3hours of suffering anyway.
We passed the turning everyone told us to take (feeling somewhat happy we'd planned a better route as we watched it snake almost vertical up the mountain) and started enjoying the day, both our heads finally high and determined.
A motorcyclist stopped us, asked us where we were going and directed us the other way. After some conversation, "is there a road over the mountain this way?" "yes", "ok for bikes", "yes probably", we again plodded on. It was only when several busses signalled at us and one stopped and pulled us over, that we thought perhaps the entire town might be right, and their route might be better. The bus driver was saying there was no road ahead, and his adamant nature made us stop and think (we later found out our planned road existed as we saw it join our road out the other side, but it was probably blocked at some point, hence why the motor cyclist might have thought we could get through).
So after going several km out of our way on the wicked road of doom, we turned back. Having worked so hard to lift our spirits, they were now rock bottom. For some reason the quote of the day that's stayed with me came at this moment from Ant... "that's cycle touring Stew, you roll with the punches, it just seems Peru is very good at delivering them!". (Rolling with the punches, taking the downs and waiting for the ups... At this point it felt no ups would ever come our way... How wrong we were...
We reached the junction for the turning and the steep road up the mountain and agreed that if a bus should come our way we flag it down and take it if they will have us. And just then, out of nowhere as we were literally about to set off heads hung low, a blue truck takes our turning. Our thought process went collectively like this: Lets try and flag it down, it probably won't stop, it's stopped, they might just be offering us a tow, too risky on this stuff, we'll not have the strength to hold on and control the bikes, they're getting out, they're really smiley, they're opening the back, it's empty, oh my gosh, they're actually offering us a lift... (cue the 100 strong gospel choir... ) Hallelujah!!
We had no idea how far up the mountain the truck was going, we just held our heads over the top of the parapet that was the back of the truck ( like two alpacas stretching to see some crazy gringos) and hoped they would keep driving as we watched the km ticked away...
We later found out these incredibly kind gents were llama farmers, heading off up the mountain to round their herd up and take them to a show in Puno... So it turned out we were pretending to be llamas for a massive 6km and 300m climbing... At least a third of what we had to do. (cue gospel music again!)
Yes we still had a hideous 3km left but what a special treat gifted to us by such nice folk. Perhaps some karma for bringing such happiness with the £5 gift earlier? Ant in all his thoughtfulness said... "I think that's the main thing we should do on this trip, share the joy and happiness to folk, that you can only bring when you're a crazy adventuring gringo on a bike, we should make that our priority".
The next 3km was tough, horrible, slow and just plain yucky... Yes I might have thrown my bike down a few times and walked up the hill. Both Ant and I were finding we didn't have the power in our legs needed to get over the huge rocks on very steep hair pins, without being too unstable and being thrown off balance. You need speed to stay upright and I for one just had completely empty legs... Nothing there at all. Ant just about gritted his teeth and used his leg guns, to get up the slopes (much harder for him to push his much heavier bike up the mountain, than just to dig deep and find power where there isn't and keep cycling).
So after about an hour, we reached the top, and the highest we've been yet: 4600m. And wow, neither of us are panting uncontrollably, there are no headaches or sad moods... We are acclimatised!! Finally!
Such a different feel to this highpoint. Surprisingly much more life supporting up here than any of the others we've been to. Greener and more vast rolling lumps, less ragged dusty rocks. Ant even spotted (and got amazingly boyishly excited about seeing) four vicuñas just short of the summit (he'd been sad we'd not seen any llama or alpacas yet this week, they seemed to have been replaced with donkeys until today).
As we turned the corner though, just a few meters below the summet, the mountains opened up into the most incredible view. It had everything: a vast wide open valley, revealing our road and the next 40km we were about to take; rolling green hillsides behind us; jagged rocky volcanic peaks in front; then in the distance the snow capped peaks that any child would draw if you ask them to illustrate a mountain. Simply stunning.
Less stunning was our descent. After the initial promise of a better gravel road, it quickly disintegrated into a rainbow road of doom (similar to what we'd been cycling all day, only much worse in places and damn hard to descend on a loaded bike... There's something saping about working hard to descend at only 10km/h!). Why rainbow? Cue Mario Cart... The colour of the mountain rocks kept changing, from grey to purple to red, to even green and yellow at some points, which led to different colour rocks and dust on the road... A Rainbow road (the one thing that kept my head high). Ant not so much, he was resenting having to take this road (the other would have stayed high and joined the tarmacked main road just in time to descend on that), resenting having to lose 400m hight only having to work hard at the bottom to gain it again, and resenting the beautiful view that showed us our roads and exactly how far we had to descend then ascend again (mapping out at least the next 3hours cycling, that could have been avoided on his alternative route). He was not happy and time now for me to cheer him up... "Look its so pretty, it's a rainbow road, we're like Mario Cart"... Nope not working...ok.
I learned I cannot do hair pins on this stuff whether going up or down (a few hairy slippy slidy moments!). Ant learnt that no matter how frustrating it was, the end would come. And it did... Tarmac wahoo!
But before we embarked on gaining our altitude again, we stopped for lunch at aguas caliente (the supposedly beautiful hot mountain springs everyone in Layo had been going on about). They were not beautiful, not the natural rocky springs we had in mind, just a man made swimming pool style resort containing spring water in large concrete circles and squares that people were bathing in.
Fueled from lunch, but both feeling like our bodies had been stretched, torn, shaken and rattled, I started to talk of the taxi rank I might have spotted at the entrance to the springs. We could just get a cab to the nearest town then finish our day with a flat (ish) 40km tarmac cycle to the big town (capital of the district) with almost certain promise of a hotel (trying not to dream too much of hot water, cosy beds and our own bathroom at this point).
We agreed and negotiated a price from a very confused driver, and soon were on our way. At this point it should be noted how lucky we were to stumble across a taxi rank... They are practically non existent on the routes we've been taking... The cycle touring lottery being kind to us again today.
The final 40km was simply amazing, tarmac and very shallow gradients through a valley plateau at around 3900m, with only a strong cross wind to challenge us (that sometimes had the sense to get on our tails and push us along at a whopping 30km/h). The road wasn't too busy, just one or two kamikaze busses and trucks to give us a bottom clenching moment or two, but fairly infrequent traffic so we could just enjoy the ride. And a glance in Ant's mirror and he said, "blue truck behind... Oh wait... It's the llama farmers, with their llamas!". Lots of waving, honking, cheering and smiles.
Then the small child in Ant who loves animal spotting, saw flamingos and got so excited. We stopped to take photos and let his excitement roll.
We managed to outride the three or four impending mountain storms (yes we saw lightening in the distance in several directions) and seemed to slip through the only channel where the rain and dark grey clouds weren't (thanks cycle touring lottery!). Soon enough we'd made it to the town, with only a few spots of rain on our heads and were cycling through the industrial suburbs.
I seemed to find my Spanish, asking security guards where the best hotels were in town, and they excitedly pointed us to the centre exclaiming "good hotels and a festival, a festival".
We followed their instructions and were soon caught up in the busiest most atmospheric street market we've ever tried to push two massive loaded bikes through (its ok though we didn't attract any attention in our luminous yellow jackets!). "gringo holla" "gringa con bicycletta", "holla" "hello" "buenos tardis". The jubilant atmosphere helped us push on through, and I guess about 20minutes later (and only 3 or 4 blocks walked!) we found the central square with not one but 2, not hostals but hotels, to chose from and the most stunningly beautiful cathedral. Covered in dust, we went to the best looking hotel asked for their best double ensuite room (they asked Ant if he was sure... We must have looked a state, because it was only about £20!) and rejoiced as the hot water ran hot and the bed was clean and comfy. Even the toilet worked properly!
Promising to always remember how good it felt to wash ourselves and our clothes in the steaming shower, we ventured out to the local pizza restaurant (ok we knew their pizza would be rubbish, but anything other than rice potatoes and meat at this point please!), drank beer, found an ice cream parlour for hot chocolate, hot milk, ice cream and chocolate mousse to finish off our supper and went for a quick wonder to walk it all off. The streets had turned into a party, many people drinking beer and eating street food, a fun atmosphere... but not as fun as going to sleep!
So that's just what we did, and now its 8.10am and I really should wake Ant up for the 70km day we have ahead... But I like it here so much and the ice cream place said they do omelettes and fried egg sandwiches for breakfast but don't open until 9am... So if I leave it another 10minutes I could probably tempt him to stay for that :-) sneaky!!!
Much love to all, and here's to (all being well) another 2 day's cycling to get to Puno (if we ever get out of bed of course!).
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