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15 Jun 2014
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Peru mountains Day 4
Arriving at the 3S 2 hours after we had left it we were now still 80 km from Huánuco. This stretch of the 3S north is in the worst condition of any road we have seen. There is intermittent dirt/gravel with a very few patches of good pavement. It is mostly very badly pot-holed pavement requiring total concentration. Our poor bikes! That and there are tons of trucks and locals driving like maniacs all over the road and at speed.
We finally managed to break free of the pack after a town crowded with people in the street market and were able to pass a bunch of trucks. Again we were fighting the sunset and arrived just after dark and another 400 km. We spotted a hotel right away with good parking and hot water for 16$.
I know I said this yesterday, but we do need a break today. The first plan was to get to La Union 130 km away on the 3N. This took 4 hours.
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21 Jun 2014
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Peru mountains Day 4
The very curvy road up the mountain was again mostly 1 lane and a lot of it in very poor condition with wash outs and potholes. There was several water crossings too. It takes a lot of mental and physical strength to drive the curves, avoid the holes, not get hit head on in the tight corners, and pass trucks on the verge of the narrow road for 4 hours.
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21 Jun 2014
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Got MUD?
The last 25 km of the road is full of mud sections for an added challenge. Arriving for lunch at la Union we were bagged at 1 pm, but we had 260 km to go to Caraz.
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21 Jun 2014
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Peru mountains Day 4
We finally got a break! The 3N north of La Union is smooth pavement and two real lanes wide. The views are awesome and we crossed a pass at 4600 m. The road heads southwest until Conochoca where it finally goes north.
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21 Jun 2014
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Carez
From here we had 111 km to go at 415 and we decided to go for it. The road from here is smooth, two lanes, with actual yellow lines down the middle and everything. That said with more civilization there is more traffic and more towns with speed bumps and so we again were arriving at dusk at 6.
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We punched hotel in to the GPS and a lodge came up. Feeling like we deserved a break we headed there. Ahhhh comfy bed and hot water for 2 nights is heaven. Caraz in a picturesque little town with nice restaurants.
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21 Jun 2014
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Welding
We also had some time to look over the bikes and Dan found that his pannier rack was broken. This was either too much rough road or one of the deeper mud patches had a big buried rock. The hotel owner went with him to a local welder who fixed it up in no time. These are the bare wires he put in the socket to weld.
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21 Jun 2014
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Canyon del Pato
Well today is the big day we spent 4 days to get to. The famous Canyon del Pato. It is a short drive up the 3 N on the pavement until you hit the canyon. The final destination for the day was Huacho in 460 km.
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Dan’s 800 hit a big one today!
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We were sadly under whelmed. There is about a 20 km section with cool narrow tunnels, but not much else. It is not even in our top 100 rides let alone top ride as others have claimed. It is lucky however that the 4 days to get here were epic. The canyon section is now paved, but covered in gravel for added danger.
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Last edited by saralou; 14 Aug 2014 at 21:21.
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21 Jun 2014
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south again
The rest of the 150 km is not scenic, but is good dirt except the last 50 km, which is washboard and potholes. We were happy to make it off to the pavement at that rate.
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Now we headed the 50 km to the Pan Americana and then south to Huacho.
Last December we had stayed here and knew we could cross Lima and make it to Nazca in 600 km in one long day. We had forgotten the coast view = sand all day.
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21 Jun 2014
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To Arequipa
Getting on the road at 6 am it was just light and so we made it to Lima and through to the other side at 150 km in 3 hours in very heavy traffic. In fact on 3 occasions the entire freeway was stopped for up 10 min. Last time we were in Nazca we had an even longer day and arrived at dark, while today we arrived at 4 pm.
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We planned for another mega day today of 588 km on the Pan Americana. It is at least scenic south of Nazca and curves along the seaside and then inland to Arequipa.
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21 Jun 2014
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Arequipa
There was an amazing amount of truck traffic. The last 50 km into Arequipa took over an hour and then the entry to the city from the south is totally blocked so you have to detour 10 km to the north entry to access the historic center. We were so mentally and physically burnt by the time we arrived we could not remember the name of our hotel. Luckily the traffic police let us park here and we used a nearby hotel’s wifi.
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This town has a very nice historic center but does not hold a candle to Cusco. We were beat so we just relaxed and did a bit of walking around the Plaza de Armas. There is a nice bridge near by built by Eiffel.
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21 Jun 2014
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Zig zag
We went to a great restaurant called Zigzag for a “fancy night out”. You had to wear a bib to project your clothes from the sizzling meat.
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21 Jun 2014
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Chivay
Picking up the bikes at the Cochera (parkade) we met a large group of riders from Sweden. We are actually FB friends with one of them Thomas and he has been following our blog. They all know our good friend Orvar (king of Sweden).
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We decided at the last minute to forgo the apparently very bad road in the back way to Chivay and opted for the paved 180 km.
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This is a stunning ride over a pass to almost 4900 m. There are tons of stacks of rocks left by other travellers.
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22 Jun 2014
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Fatastic RR, I really do enjoy.
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23 Jun 2014
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hi
Quote:
Originally Posted by troos
Fatastic RR, I really do enjoy.
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Hey thanks!!!! SP & DP
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23 Jun 2014
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Anniversary
It was 2 years ago today that we left Vancouver, BC to head north to Inuvik. Since then we have been in 16 countries and made it to Ushuaia and back to the north of Peru.
It was also 18 years ago today we got married!! Wow we looked young! clap
June 22 1996
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