South America
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Canyon Country and ‘The River of Instant Death’
Regular readers of this blog will understand how it pains me to ‘big-up’ any of the incredible feats of dering-do that I am somehow able to perform as part of this bicycle trip. They will therefore appreciate that this posting is going to be complete and utter torture for me because the road running South-East…
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Buff3y and ‘The Battle of The Big Hats’, Peru
Guide books usually kick off an introduction by saying something nice about the population of the country to be visited. In the case of Peru this appears to have been a bit of a challenge and the best that my edition of Lonely Planet could muster is to describe the people as “stoic”. They obviously…
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The Valley of Instant Death
With the crossing of the Maranon River negotiated via the good ship ‘Not Very Good’ I decided to head off on a circuitous route to the south-east into the Amazonas region. Chachapoyas, the capital of the Amazonas Region is a charming highland town with a lovely central square. There are many tour operators offering to…
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Southern Ecuador
June 14th Cuenca – Ona (106km) (1,850m) June 15th Ona – Loja (106km) (2,480m) June 16th Loja – Villacamba (40km) (612m) June 17th Villacamba – Palanda (80km) (2,101m) June 18th Palanda – Zumba (50km) (1,719m) June 19th Zumba – San Ignacio (73km (2,000m) Cuenca is a belter of a city with charming hole-in-the-wall bars and…
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Part Thirty Eight – Central Ecuador
6th June Quito – San Miguel Salsedo (104km) 1,144m 7th June San Miguel Salsedo – Riobamba (86km) 1,389m 8th June Riobamba -Alausi (92km) 1,282m Today was everything good in a bike ride. The beautiful highland meadows of the Ecuadorian Andes. The roadside villagers reaping away merrily as they have done for generations. A helpful following…
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Part Thirty Seven – Northern Ecuador
It appears that since I threatened to appear nude on buff3ysbicyclingblog that the click figures have taken another huge spike. There can be no other possible explanation. We now have hundreds of people each day enriching their lives through following the adventures of Buff3y the hardcore solo adventure cyclist. The town of Bolivar (about 70km…
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Part Thirty Six – Leaving Colombia
It is with a heavy heart that I now bid a fond adios to Colombia. I’ve tarried here far longer than originally planned, but somehow even before arriving suspected that this place would be as beguiling as it has turned out. Oh, there are of course the lovely ladies, and the women folk are also…
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Part Thirty Five – Southern Colombia
15th May (Medellin – La Pintada (75km) 16th May (La Pintada – Truck Stop) (98km) 17th May (Truck Stop – Zarzal) (111km) 18th May (Zarzal – Cali) (131km) Finally managed to extricate myself from the comforts of Medellin after two weeks of redefining what it is to dance the salsa. Am now back on the…
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Part Thirty Four – Medellin Salsamatic
I have received a number of notes expressing concern over the lack of postings in the last couple of weeks so this posting is to put your collective minds at rest. Please be assured that I am still alive and in Colombia having spent some time in Medellin. Far from spending all of his time…
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Part Thirty Three – Northern Colombia
20th April (Cartagena – Maria de Baja) (75km) 21st April (Maria de Baja – San Onofre) (43km) 22nd April (San Orofre – Sincelejo) (60km) 23rd April (Sincelejo – Planeta Rica) (118km) 24th April (Planeta Rica – Caucasia) (67km) The road south of Cartagena is the beginning of the ride through South America. Its quite a…