![]() The mountain pass is one of the highest in Colombia and at 52 miles is reputed to be the longest climb in the world. ![]() Today we are tackling the notorious Alto de Letras one of the so called Mythical Mountains of Colombia. Along the way we pass through Armero, a ghost town left devastated by the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz Volcano which erupted in 1985 wiping out 23,000 of the 31,000 inhabitants and rendering it a virtual graveyard.Ī final 50km or so of gently rising riding delivers us to our beautiful rural retreat just on the outskirts of the Mariquita situated on the first slopes of the Central Cordillera.Īfter the last 2 days of relatively ‘gentle’ introduction to Andean road riding, we are confronted by what will be for many of us the most challenging day of our journey. We’ll take lunch close to the banks of the river and spend the afternoon on gently undulating treelined roads as we make our way through a region famous for rice and cotton plantations. But keep our eyes on the road we must as we‘re losing altitude for more than 40km before eventually reaching the Magdalena plains. The road seems to fall away and with views so breathtaking we have to work hard to keep our eyes on the road. If the absence of human presence and activity surprised us yesterday we’ll be amazed at the feeling of solitude presented to us today, particularly in the earlier stages.Īfter a few kms of climbing, the world opens up to reveal spectacular views of the magnificent Rio Magdalena, the most important river in Colombia. We leave Vianí in a similar style to our arrival yesterday, climbing out of town into some of the most incredible scenery we’ll experience during the entire tour. Eventually we arrive in the small town of Vianí where we will spend our evening. After reaching the summit we find ourselves in a land that time forgot which seemingly has not changed in decades and where traditional life carries on without interruption from traffic and other trappings of modern life. 30km of joyful descending delivers us to our final challenge of the day, a minor climb with a 2km sting in the tail. ![]() Rolling roads lead us from Subachoque to Factactiva, another important city of the ancient Muisca culture, where we will stop for lunch.Īfter a few more kms on the plateau we arrive at another small rise before we get our first taste of real Colombian style descending. Our route is taking us along an old road, traditionally used to connect the local fincas, and although our first climb is only 4km to the summit, it is considerably steeper than the average Colombian climb and while we’re still acclimatising it might feel decidedly punchy.įrom the summit we descend for a similar distance into Subachoque and even though we’re only a short distance from the capital we’ll already be starting to appreciate the beauty of rural Colombia. It is not totally without challenges though and despite the fact we are beginning our adventure on the Savanna of Bogotá, an enormous plateau, there are occasional small mountains to negotiate and we will encounter our first one just under 15km into our ride. Today is all about acclimatisation and is one of the easiest days of the tour.
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