06/09/2013 Stage 21 Huascaran bushcamp- Huallanca by malcandmarjetpatterson at Garmin Connect - Details

06/09/13 Stage Bushcamp Huascaran- Huallanca
What a day it has been! The most amazing scenery ever ! and the worse day ever! because of altitude sickness

We woke up to beautiful sunshine after a good nights sleep in the tent. It wasn't as cold as we had expected it to be and peeled off layers throughout the night. You don't have to be a contortionist to get in or out of this tent which at my age is a bonus. We enjoyed a cup of coffee and were on our way. We were slowly climbing up from 4200 meters to 4800 meters and the road and the gradient were not too bad. From about 4600 meters I gradually started to feel worse. But since we were nearly at the first peak I plodded on. We happily made it to 4820 and donned our warm clothes to start the descent.. In my head we only had to climb up to 4875 again and from there on in it would be a breezy downhill. Sadly we descended and climbed about five times before we eventually topped out at 4870. In the meantime I got worse and worse. Those of you who have suffered with altitude sickness will know what I mean. I felt nauseous, light headed and totally without any strength. I didn't want to eat or drink a sure sign I wasn't my usual self. I frequently had to get of my bike and walk I would make myself walk 50 paces before stopping and gasping for breath. Even when I was cycling my GPS cut out repeatedly because it couldn't detect any movement. If only it knew how much I was suffering! When we had descended for the umpteenth time and yet again another what seemed to me massive climb ahead I got very close to hysterical. Luckily Malc realised all was not well and after cycling to the rise he came back down again to offer me a pull up the hill. I could not even face that! So Malc cycled up the hill again at break neck speed and then ran down to take my bike up. I could barely walk up the hill. This repeated itself several more times until we had climbed the final ascent. It sounds pathetic but I so needed that helping hand and was so grateful for Malc giving it so freely.

This was definitely a day of two halves as having topped out we the spent almost two hours only exercising our brake hands whilst we descended 40kms to Huallanca where we found what we needed , yes , the usual , a bed ,a place to eat and some booze .

As you might guess after reading this it was a very tough day which is in no way reflected by the figures. However it was so incredibly beautiful, so awe inspiring, so vast in a way that can't be captured by pictures even though we tried I doubt very much if I will see anything that will impress me more! So despite all I would not have missed this day for the world!

05/09/2013 stage 21 Huaraz - Huascaran bushcamp

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05/09/2013 Stage 21 Huaraz – Bush camping Huascaran National Parc

It is half past four and we are lying in our tent enjoying the views of the snow capped Corderilla Blanca. But not for very much longer because we are at 4200 meters and it is already getting colder and we will have to zip up soon.

Malcolm trying to find some shade under his
 helmet while he waiting for me to catch up

 I'm dressed in long smartwool socks ( they already have holes in them so a bad buy) thermal leggings, trousers, woollen long sleeved top, another wind resistant top and I'm inside my sleeping bag. Today was roughly a 1200 meter climb most of it on beautiful surfaced road but the last 15 km were a bit of a bugger. Very rough gravel and 400 meters to climb. I had to walk some of it because I just didn't have enough strength. It was lovely though and not too challenging. We had the tent up by three o'clock and there's not a soul around for miles and miles, absolutely gorgeous. From our camp we could see the 'The Queens of the Andes' a 10 meter high plant (Puya Raimondi) which grows between 3200m and 4800meters. Flowers once and then dies.A very spectacular plant.) die gro

die groeit

04/09/2013 Day off in Huaraz

04/09/13 Rest day Huaraz

Most rest days follow the same kind of pattern. Sleeping in late with a cup of coffee in bed for starters. Our stove boils water very quickly but it roars like a jet engine about to take off. We try to disguise the noise by switching on a shower and so far we have not been thrown out. All though you can buy really good coffee from Peru in the UK as is so often the way the stuff you get served here can't really be called coffee. It is nearly always presented as a syrupy liquid which you add to your cup of hot water. So we treasure the remains of the bag of coffee I found in Ecuador. There is always washing to catch up on as well and of course the most important bit is to find places to eat. Because rest days are usually in bigger places and we have more time we enjoy finding nice places to eat and stock up on calories. When we are on the move it is sometimes hard to find enough food and we end up eating very cheaply (£1.50 for a main meal)but badly. Fresh fruit and vegetables can be found in abundance on the markets but markets are hard to find and fresh ingredients are difficult and heavy to carry. It would seem you have to go to much more expensive places to eat to actually get vegetables served with your meal. I have to admit we get through a lot of fizzy drink. They are easily available, give you lots of calories and when you are really hot and sweaty are a very enjoyable way of consuming calories. Hopefully my teeth won't all rot! We had hoped to carefully look at the route ahead in Huaraz but the internet failed completely so we just had so spend more time eating.

03/09/2013 Stage 20 Caraz - Huaraz

03/09/2013 Stage 20 Caraz - Huaraz
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03/09/13 Stage Caraz to Huaraz

Today was essentially a slow gentle climb up to 3000m over 66 kms . The road was good with a wide good quality hard shoulder and progress was slow but steady .We stopped for breakfast hoping to have the usual two fried eggs but had to settle for Escabeche , roast chicken , onions and rice , it didn't seem right at that time of day but refuelling is refuelling and it was very tasty.There were steadily more and more snow capped mountains coming into view and with the route being all paved today we got into Huaraz at 2.00pm leaving us plenty of time to settle in and explore what is a fairly large city of 500,000 people .

with views like this you couldn't complain

The last 36 hrs had been a bit of a disaster in many ways , the kindle awoke with the screen of death

, my phone [essential for navigation ]broke down , and to top it all we left the wallet with £125, because we had just been to the cashpoint machine and two debit cards in a cake shop never to be seen again . Fortunately we found a market area where there were several stalls selling refurbished phones and also doing repairs and after a lot of negotiating we ended up with a fully functioning phone again .

Tomorrow is a rest day partially to acclimatise before ascending to 4800m over the following two days and partly to try to sort out the route which doesn't appear on any google maps . Fortunately it's been done often enough before and we can read other peoples blogs to find clues as to where to turn off get water/food etc .  

02/09/13 Stage 19 Yaracmarca - Caraz

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02/09/13 Stage 19 Yuracmarca - Caraz

Today I was very grateful Malcolm had pushed me to carry on last night because it made for a very manageable ride today. To be fair it was mostly in my head. I thought we were going to stop after 1000 meters of ascent. Instead we climbed nearly 1500 meters so the last 500 were tough. There was very little breeze today and since we are still quite low the temperatures soared. Again the views were spectacular with occasionally white snow capped mountains. Diving into 43 tunnels helped to keep the sun off our backs. I still haven't got used to the fact that the sun is in the North at midday. It doesn't help my already poor sense of direction. Luckily Malc is firmly in charge of the navigating. We met two very friendly French cyclists. They had started in Ushuaia eight and a half months ago. One of them was carrying a complete spare wheel. I think we probably travel with less than the minimum amount of spares and can only hope that we don't come unstuck.

Malc trying to cool down with the help of a little water 

The route remained on ripio for the first half of the ride but it was so good to be back on a paved surface for the latter half . The walls of the gorge became steeper and closer ( 5 meters)and the tunnels more frequent until we popped out the other end coincident with the road surface changing . As we'd done more yesterday it left us with less to do today and there was almost a feeling of guilt as we arrived early in Caraz. No there wasn't I thought it was brilliant (Marjet)

View from hotel room Of course Alpamayo at nearly
6000 meters is covered in cloud

01/08/13 Stage 18 Camp Chavimochic- Yuracmarca

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Chavimochic to Yuracmarca

We'd both slept really well and packed everything away before having breakfast , nine eggs between us ! Mainly because we couldn't face packing the eggs for transporting again .

Not one egg was broken thanks to Malc's careful wrapping 

The route continued on unpaved road for the next 30 kms with a rare sighting of any other vehicle . We then briefly joined the paved road for a short section before turning back onto more ripio but now heading into the Canon del Plato . We were now expecting 50 kms of ripio before finishing the day . The ripio however was much worse than in the morning and speed was limited by the rough washboard surface . The gorge we were now in however was so beautiful that any suffering or lack of progress was easily overcome . There were several tunnels to negotiate and we had to don head torches and pray nothing was coming the other way . There were a few lorries about and they tended to blast their horns and just go for it .

Progress was slow and Marjet had wanted to stop and put the tent up but on the other hand we were very dry and without much in the way of fluid or food so she was persuaded to push on beyond what was bearable . Fortunately we did eventually find a small village with provisions and it even had a Hospedaje which was as basic it could possibly be , corrugated roof and single tap over a drain on the floor , but a bed included .

Had we not found the village I think Marjet was probably on the point on the point of mutinying if not finishing me off for the insurance .

31/08/2013 Stage 17 Huanchaco -Camp Chavimochic

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31/08/13 Huanchaco – Chavimochic ( bush camping)

Although the day didn’t start too well it did improve tremendously. It was very grey and overcast when we left and Malcolm had his firs puncture within 500 meters of the hotel. He had two more later on in the day! Not sure why because we had a lovely smooth and wide hard shoulder to cycle on. The amount of traffic got less and less and after some early lunch things really improved. The sun started to break through and we could see the mountains again. We stopped for a late lunch in Chao and had to wait a while to be served . By mistake we ended up with far too much ceviche and ended up bagging up the remains for supper. Then we discovered the second puncture of the day quickly followed by the third . It was easy riding and after 95 km we turned off the Pan American to head for the hills on an unpaved road. 

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 There was barely any traffic because it is a private road that was build for the Chavimochic project( the water project to bring water to the coastal desert for crop growing) In the late afternoon sunshine the scenery was breathtakingly beautiful and we had it all to ourselves. It was so nice to be away from the blaring horns and business of the coast and a relief to be nearer the mountains again.

With the punctures and delays with food we arrived at destination just as it was getting dark which if you don't want to be seen is just qbout right .We pitched our tent and found it to be very spacious and with the two porches we each had a clear few of the sky. The stars were so beautiful because there was of course no light pollution. A very nice end to the day with a beer or two in hand to make it perfect.