My mind frame at this point of the trip is largely the following: I’ve seen a lot of things. I’ve cycled around the perimeter of South America. I’ve gone through the desert, across the Andes, over bad roads and through salt flats...

I last left off describing my ride in Abancay when I was on my way to Yacca. Yacca was a very small town and we had a quiet campsite overlooking the mountains - a good place to be camping before the hardest two days of riding on the whole trip...

The company that I am cycling with offers clients the opportunity to do just a section of the tour between Rio and Quito. The section between Cusco and Lima is called ‘The Gringo Trail’ and a new rider joined us for that section...