Month 14
10 August – 9 September 2014 Countries Colombia, Panama & Costa Rica (total 11) Distance 1,450.86km (total 16,007.16km) Climb 12,542m (total 155,127m) Longest day 147.17km, Santiago de Tolú to Cartagena de Indias in Colombia (longest so far: 160.11km) Top speed 66.5kmh (fastest so far: 67.4kmh) Punctures 1 (total 24; Will leads 17-7) Touring cyclists encountered...
Snaps – August 2014
A day late, our monthly collection of holiday snaps for which we couldn’t find a place elsewhere on this site. Previous months in this ‘Snaps’ series can be found by clicking here; and there are hundreds more pictures on our Flickr page. Medellín’s Feria de las Flores (Festival of the Flowers) is one...
Mind the gap
The sole land border between Colombia and Panama is occupied by the Darién Gap, a 160km-long, 50km-wide area of largely unexplored forest and swamp. The name is easily explained: ‘Darién’ after the Panamanian province in which it sits; ‘Gap’ for the break in the Panamerican Highway, an otherwise continuous 48,000km road between Alaska and Patagonia,...
Argentina / Bolivia / Brazil / Chile / Colombia / Counting / Cycling / Ecuador / Paraguay / Peru / Uruguay
South America redux
click here for a larger version of the map Continents 1 Countries 9 Nights 408 Days of cycling 186 Distance 15,297.62km Climb 148,577m 100km days 49 Punctures 23 Broken spokes 4 Chains 5 Touring cyclists encountered 66 Passport stamps accumulated 56 Bottles of sunscreen used 8 Socks lost 3 Headphones broken 5 Hospitals & medical...
Four exports
Much of Colombia’s contribution to the world’s second largest single-product marketplace is cultivated in a sizeable chunk of land in the centre of the country. Hilly paisaje located at a suitable altitude (between 1,000m and 1,800m above sea level) and blessed with a temperate climate (sunny, regular rainfall, highs around 18-23°C), the region has long...
The opposite of dancing
Like most people who pass through, I took some dance classes in the Colombian city of Cali (tourist tagline: World Capital of Salsa). They were held at sunset in the attic studio of the pool house at our hostel, orange light flickering through mango leaves to finger the towers of downtown below. (Somehow, I fancied...
Parish notices, August 2014
As we’ve mentioned here before, fellow cicloturistas Paddy and Laura Mottram were kind enough to meet with us in London before we set out on this trip, patiently answering our questions about their own 14-month tour around South America. Laura has now written a book about their journey: ‘Ipanema Turtles’, which we’ve just started reading,...
Month 13
10 July – 9 August 2014 Countries Colombia (total 9) Distance 964.51km (total 14,556.30km) Climb 16,422m (total 142,585m) Longest day 136.57km, Popayán to Cali in Colombia (longest so far: 160.11km) Top speed 65.3kmh (fastest so far: 67.4kmh) Punctures 1 (total 23; Will leads 16-7) Touring cyclists encountered 1 (total 65) Planes 2 (total 6) Most...
It’s only faster if it moves
After 391 days and 14,556km on our beloved bicycles, we’ve been delayed mechanically by nothing more complicated or time-consuming than a puncture. After six hours and 140km in a borrowed Volkswagen Polo, the only time on this trip we’ve been behind a steering wheel rather than handlebars, this happened: A broken clutch, a truck-assisted U-turn...
Snaps – July 2014
Welcome to this month’s edition of Amateur Photographers. As ever, past months in this ‘Snaps’ series can be reached by clicking here; and you can see plenty more on our Flickr page. Five minutes after Colombia’s exit from the World Cup, the bottom had completely fallen out of the local vuvuzela market. Mocoa,...
The world’s longest climb? – Cycling the Alto de Letras
The internet has lent certain cycling routes in South America an iconic quality. Websites such as Cass Gilbert’s joyful While Out Riding, Anna Korschak’s faintly elegaic A Thousand Turns and Neil & Harriet Pike’s encyclopaedic Andes by Bike serve as renegade guidebooks for cyclists in search of the continent’s most breathtaking rides, marrying beautiful photography...
¿Cuidado?
Ask a European to name an event from Colombia’s history, and there’s a good chance they’ll mutter something about the assassination of footballer Andrés Escobar after the national side’s exit from the 1994 World Cup. Although it occurred 20 years ago, the murder of Escobar still goes a long way towards defining Colombia in the...