Our adventure took us down various twists and turns as we followed the back roads into the hot foothills of the Cordillera Oriental…. With the rise in FARC guerilla activity in Colombia (such as the recent and bewildering environmental damage caused by the oil pipeline attacks in Putumayo, near the border of Ecuador), there was initial concern as to whether taking to the back roads was a good idea…
Emotions during touring can swing from one extreme to another without notice. Well mine can. After having a positively awful night’s ‘sleep’ in a farm, I found myself at virtual breaking point in a crime ridden town (or so I thought) on the outskirts of Bogota not really knowing what to do with myself…
I had been somewhat procrastinating on my approach to Bogota. If I could have chosen a route that would easily bypass it I probably would have taken it. Virtually every person I met before my arrival decided to enlighten me about how dangerous the city is…
Bus rides across Colombia are undoubtedly long and tedious… However, it was a necessary evil if I was going to be able cycle traverse a high altitude volcano on a prohibited mountain pass with Cass Gilbert…
It seems that I’m forever surprised by the hills in Colombia. My optimism in the topography is often misled, and night is often reached before my target…
Riding a horse felt a bit like riding a bicycle with a brain. Let me explain. Whilst riding my bike over rocky terrain, I have had to constantly pick and choose my way through uneven surfaces. On the horse I felt I could just urge her in the general direction and trust her to pick the way (although…
Having hardly ridden my bike at all for the last few months, I suddenly found myself struggling immensely to keep up with a well trained cycling machine, aka Alonso, who I met through the cycle touring network ‘warmshowers.com’ (videos below)…
Chicamocha is a spectacular canyon, there is no doubt, but this has also brought with it the predictable human desire of profiting from nature by creating a massive tourist eye sore…
Riding your bicycle in Colombia is, quite frankly, amazing. Combining the hugely expansive varied terrain with my (mildly) self-inflicted time pressures, the challenge hasn’t been trying to identify awesome off road routes, it has been deciding which routes to say no to…
After a long break from the tour I’m finally ready to start again. Sitting here near Bucaramanga, planning my route through the rest of Colombia. There has been a regretful hiatus of blog writing; this in part due to the extended break to sort a few things out but also for being robbed at gunpoint…
The last few days of our trip we continued putting in the big days and 20 to 25 km became standard. Both of us were keen to get this trip finished. Although the sea sores cleared up when we rinsed essential parts with fresh water at the end of the day, my hands were starting…