Rides bikes, paddles sea kayaks, takes pictures. Life on the road & my home in Cornwall.
On from Espinar
Posted on
It’s been a while so I think I will split this into two posts… one today and one tomorrow. When I last wrote I was in Espinar and planning a slightly easier route for a while in the hope that it would help me get rid of the lingering chest bug… but there was still the matter of a 4700m pass to get over in order to get away from Espinar and find that mellower riding. Espinar was cold too, ‘only’ at 4000m elevation or so but it sits on a wide plain surrounded by mountains and I wondered if the local geography was influencing the climate. In the midday sun the climate was quite agreeable but in shadow or indoors .. brrrr. My feet were perpetually cold there.
The region north of Espinar used to be the heartland of the rather unpleasant Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) movement and hence never had any kind of tourism or travel industry, and still doesn’t given the not too distant honeypots of Cusco and Puno. As such the people along the way are invariably very happy to see a visitor, even to the extent of being stopped on the road from time to time for a chat. Places here are well worth making the time for even if they appear to initially have little of interest. My memories from around here are some of my happiest from anywhere.. just little things that bring a smile to my face like the funny guy that absolutely insisted I share a 2 litre bottle of bright yellow Inka Cola with him on the steps of a polleria (it is yucky stuff IMO, definitely an acquired taste), to being ‘adopted’ by a little girl of no more than 3 yrs old. No idea why, I’m not cuddly… A chap in Velille commented on how hard the saddle of my bike was. I told him I had a hard arse. Everyone within earshot fell about laughing. It just doesn’t happen at home. I will miss it.
Like this:
LikeLoading...
8 thoughts on “On from Espinar”
As always, great photos. But you have failed to find any tractors!
hahaha, I have thought about that… there just aren’t any. I have not seen a single tractor. Everything is done by mule and by hand. I imagine partly economic reasons, and partly the terrain. It is bloody steep and inaccessible. I imagine I am going to have to go back to Turkey for you aren’t I… the land of the vintage MF… not to mention the Erkunt..
Brilliant pictures Mike. When Chris (who you met in Malaga) was travelling in South America for a year he had similar stories of how nice and friendly people were.
Sounds like you are having a great time, probably missing the rat race a tad ??
I am having a similar adventure mixing with the locals in the Canaries, having just finished a short trip to Scotland visiting the natives of Torridon and Ullapool!
Look forward to reading your next blog. Take care, stay safe and enjoy.
hey Andy, great to hear from you. I love South America, this is my 5th visit and I suspect not my last! Rat race… hahaha, good one! ;-) Glad to hear you’re enjoying yourself, have never been to the Canaries, some great biking I hear!
cheero!
m
As always, great photos. But you have failed to find any tractors!
hahaha, I have thought about that… there just aren’t any. I have not seen a single tractor. Everything is done by mule and by hand. I imagine partly economic reasons, and partly the terrain. It is bloody steep and inaccessible. I imagine I am going to have to go back to Turkey for you aren’t I… the land of the vintage MF… not to mention the Erkunt..
Nice post… And fully recovered from your illnesses ?
hey, thanks…! but illness… ah, not quite… next post will explain…
I didn’t want to ask a question about the obvious but, sadly, it still isn’t obvious to me. The cow/bull on top of the vehicle??
haha… morning after the night before… to do with the festival the night I arrived :-)
Brilliant pictures Mike. When Chris (who you met in Malaga) was travelling in South America for a year he had similar stories of how nice and friendly people were.
Sounds like you are having a great time, probably missing the rat race a tad ??
I am having a similar adventure mixing with the locals in the Canaries, having just finished a short trip to Scotland visiting the natives of Torridon and Ullapool!
Look forward to reading your next blog. Take care, stay safe and enjoy.
Andy
hey Andy, great to hear from you. I love South America, this is my 5th visit and I suspect not my last! Rat race… hahaha, good one! ;-) Glad to hear you’re enjoying yourself, have never been to the Canaries, some great biking I hear!
cheero!
m