Another big day called for an earlyish start, and so I was up and away by 07.30. Ok, not terrifically early, but its bloody cold that time of the morning! 

Giant hats are all the rage in this part of Peru. Extreme example shown. Getting  out of Celendin was easy, and so began the uphill section. Spread out over 50 kms, I gained 1300 metres in height until I topped off at 3700 metres. The gradients weren’t too bad, and there were even some flat sections which made a pleasant change!

Then began a rough and bumpy 25 km descent down into the village of Encanada. I had considered stopping here, but as it was 14.00, I still had some time to get the final 35 km to Cajamarca done.

 

Leading a pig from market. A nice picture of rural life here in Peru. Note the super-sized hats!