Day 900
Bugs
Well, we had a difficult decision to make, to ride or not to ride the off-road route to El Angel. The track is made of cobbles, and mud, with the odd landslide thrown in for good measure. Punctures are a high risk. We would climb to the highest point of our trip so far, well over 12,000 feet, so it would be cold too. None of this put us off as such but we knew it would be a tough full day’s riding. Other riders had advised it was certainly hard work, with sections of pushing but the scenery was beautiful and we would probably be able to wild camp in an empty porta-cabin. Tom had the difficult task of telling me that at the moment he felt I simply wasn’t fit enough. Oh yes, he knew I would do it but would I actually enjoy it? The weather looked grim, thick clouds covered the tops of the mountains, so no views then, and yep it looked like rain which we knew would turn it into a mud bath. Still undecided we flipped a coin, tails we went heads we didn’t, heads won. I was relieved but a bit disappointed, Tom clearly was very disappointed but we both knew it was the right decision.
The route we took was not really a second best as it was awesome. Part of the Tour de Ecuador bike race, we were kept entertained as we climbed not just by the stunning views but by posters of famous Ecuadorian cyclists. At the top, at the Mirador, (we always stop for a mirador!) we were rewarded with not just a stunning view but a statue of Ecuador’s most famous cyclist, Richard Carapaz. In 2019 he became the first man from Ecuador to win the Giro d’Italia and followed that up with the Gold Medal for the men’s individual road race in the 2020 Olympics. Serious stuff.
Our original plans would have meant us wild camping and we were keen to do this. The bad weather had not materialised. After a morning of climbing our afternoon was a massive descent, but mixed in with a few more ups than necessary. We started to spot places to camp, we didn’t want to descend to the bottom as we wanted to take advantage of the awesome views. We stopped at a small volleyball pitch, the views were fantastic but the flood lights put us off. There were also a few flies, but we thought no more about them. A little further down Tom spotted a track climbing up into the hills. He walked up, checked it out and confirmed it would be ok. We both pushed our bikes up and started to unload the bags. Both of us noticed blood spots on our legs, wow, there were plenty of flies and pretty nasty little brutes. We quickly realized this spot wouldn’t work and returned to the road. The whole excursion couldn’t have lasted longer than 5 minutes but the repercussions would last far longer.
We headed for the small town where there were two hostels, but they looked so grim we simply couldn’t face them. Just a few yards on was a vast gravel piece of waste land. At the furthest point from the road a mound of earth hid us from view. Perfect we decided. A strong breeze kept the blood sucking critters at bay. We had the river just below us and mountains all around, so we had stunning views aplenty. Now at this point it’s worth pointing out that what long distant cyclists, or at least Tom and I, think is a perfect camp spot and yours say, may differ. Yes we had views and were hidden from the road but we also had, well, shall I say extras? The skeleton remains of two animals, a fair bit of assorted rubbish, enough empty glass bottles to start a recycling plant etc. Yep, just perfect!
We had a lovely night, cooked up curried lentils, and sat in the warm breeze enjoying the views. In the morning Tom got a camp fire going, there was a handy amount of dry wood lying around and we relaxed again. At this point we noticed just how bad Tom’s legs were, mind were not good, but Tom had barely any unbitten flesh left, and they were starting to itch!
Back on the road we started to climb again, our proposed target for the night was a campsite near a lake but a friend had warned us the critters were there in vast numbers so we booked an Airbnb in Ibarra for two nights to rest up, do some washing and film editing. At a café stop the owner took one look at our legs and produced some pieces of lime. Local knowledge at it’s best. Regularly applications of lime juice eases the itch, yay!
