Andahuaylas to Huanacarma

I think the pizza I ate last night was a bit dodgy cause I needed to make a couple of quick dashes to the loo this morning, the consequence of which being hat I briefly contemplated the idea of jumping on the express truck, through to tonight’s campsite, on the basis that it would minimise my travel time, in the event I needed to make an emergency pit stop, but also because it would give me an opportunity to get my tent up early, in the hope that it might hopefully dry out in the sun and before I had to unfurl my sleeping bag.

  

Looking at the route directions and profile over breakfast however I decided that I’d jump on the  lunch truck, see how I felt when we got to the midway point or what have you and if I was feeling OK, attempting the second half. It would half the climbing (and descending) on unpaved roads, which I’m not particularly keen on. Fortunately this also fell into line with the thinking of both Carmen & Julia, both of whom were also not keen on the distance and the amount of climbing to be done!

The climb out of Andahuaylas was extremely scenic, and every time I opened the window to snap a picture I couldn’t help but get a waft of eucalyptus which so reminded me of home! Up and up we went, till at one point the mist or the clouds started to envelope the truck, making the road (it was not a great deal more than a highly utilised goat track) all that much more precarious to negotiate.  Reaching the summit, we then briefly got a glimpse of the road, which took us to the bottom of the valley before climbing again. It was an awe inspiring sight I have to say. What of course makes navigating these roads, particularly difficult other than the necessarily just the lack of visibility which comes with the weather conditions and so forth, is the fact that they’re normally just a single car’s width, with hundred metre drop offs and yet you can get all manner of traffic (Semi-trailers, trucks, small buses, cars and the occasional herd of cattle / sheep) coming in the opposite direction. It can take a bit of very careful manoeuvring and Walter the truck driver is to be commended for his tenacity in getting such a large vehicle around and over some pretty tough terrain.

Getting back to today's activities, once a suitable lunch spot had been found, facilities set up and so on, our bikes were removed from the roof of the truck ( there were only the three of us who’d chosen to tackle today’s ride this way) and we were finally able to commence the rest of today's journey by pedal power. 

Now at this point I’ve got to be totally honest with you and confess that after just five kilometres of riding I was wondering what the hell I was doing, here in South America on a mountain bike. I mean seriously, unpaved roads with steep gradients and I, do not go together well at all. Heck, I was nervous about being able to clip back into my pedals again if I stopped, falling off my beloved stead if I chose the wrong line, had the wrong gearing for the conditions or simply didn’t have my body weight in the right position over the bike for the conditions. In saying that, I’m sure part of this is a psychological hang over from my little incident in Italy last year which still haunts me. (If Italian hospitals are a bit so-so, then I suspect that the one’s here in South America being decent / good, is probably non-existent).

At any rate I continued on, till suddenly the climb being more to my liking. Flatter! 

As we continued on the gravel track suddenly it lead us to a newly paved road. Wonderful, freshly laid tarmac which best of all had us descending to the bottom of the valley without any signs of traffic. It was magic, it was so freshly laid and with great sight lines to see what lay ahead that I have to be honest and say I was wishing I was on my road bike…

Of course, all good things must come to an end, and just near the bottom, it came to a thud, when we came across the road crew laying the tarmac…. The result being that the rest of the ride (uphill) though not at too serious a gradient was done, on a road that was undergoing road works and was only partially paved road. Frequent stops were necessary to enable the road work crews to do whatever they needed to do!

Fortunately despite all of this, we rolled into the campsite, before the lunch truck with it’s swags of cyclist’s who’d done the first half of the route but not the later (and possibly easier component, though they both had about the same amount of climbing metres), in time to set up our tents and get a bit of sunlight (drying time), a situation which pleased me no end, till it started raining again an hour ago… 

Ah well, I suppose you can’t win them all. At the end of the day, lying in the comfort of my tent, wrapped in a sleeping bag, as I am right now, it being in the minus figures outside, I’ve got to say whether it was destiny, good luck or otherwise, my decision to only attempt the second half of the day’s ride was probably one of the best decisions I could ever have made, so I’ll cop it sweet in terms of having a wet tent again!!!