After Armenia we got up early so that we could hopefully get to Popayan. This was about 600Km and we were a bit worried that we may not make it all the way since the day before we only managed about 350Km.
It turned out that we easily made the distance by about 1pm but not without a few minor incidents. The way out of the city was quite straight forward and the highway was a beauty - It was just like one in the USA with separated flows and beautiful pavement. The highway swept over the plains which were covered with vast fields of waving green sugar cane and then wound up through the gentle green hills with magnificent views. I was so captivated with the views that I nearly missed a branch in the road and also nearly went off one curve. I survived that incident but I "came to grief" at one of the toll booths.
In Colombia the highways all seem to have regular toll booths. This however is no issue for motorbikes since there is no charge. There is always a little side lane for motorbikes to bypass the toll windows. This lane is usually very narrow (75cm or so) but the big bikes fit since there is rarely any obstruction above about 20cm high on one side - which means there is room for the big side cases if you ride to one side in the little lane. However today was not my day and the front wheel of the bike glanced the inside curb - reacting to this sent me over to the side with the guard rail - and that hit the side case - which sent me back toward the curb at a steeper angle, and this time the bike went over since the curb was too high for the wheel to climb!
So there I was sprawling myself, my luggage and half the motorbike in a traffic lane with about twenty onlookers and many of them with uniforms and badges etc. Needless to say I felt highly embarrassed! Everyone was very nice and helped pick the bike up and it was all smiles when I was OK and had got the bike out of the way.
I was far more cautious going through these lanes for the rest of the day! :)
We successfully arrived in Popayan early in the afternoon and had a walk around the town after locating a nice little hotel with a lovely courtyard.
It turned out that we easily made the distance by about 1pm but not without a few minor incidents. The way out of the city was quite straight forward and the highway was a beauty - It was just like one in the USA with separated flows and beautiful pavement. The highway swept over the plains which were covered with vast fields of waving green sugar cane and then wound up through the gentle green hills with magnificent views. I was so captivated with the views that I nearly missed a branch in the road and also nearly went off one curve. I survived that incident but I "came to grief" at one of the toll booths.
In Colombia the highways all seem to have regular toll booths. This however is no issue for motorbikes since there is no charge. There is always a little side lane for motorbikes to bypass the toll windows. This lane is usually very narrow (75cm or so) but the big bikes fit since there is rarely any obstruction above about 20cm high on one side - which means there is room for the big side cases if you ride to one side in the little lane. However today was not my day and the front wheel of the bike glanced the inside curb - reacting to this sent me over to the side with the guard rail - and that hit the side case - which sent me back toward the curb at a steeper angle, and this time the bike went over since the curb was too high for the wheel to climb!
So there I was sprawling myself, my luggage and half the motorbike in a traffic lane with about twenty onlookers and many of them with uniforms and badges etc. Needless to say I felt highly embarrassed! Everyone was very nice and helped pick the bike up and it was all smiles when I was OK and had got the bike out of the way.
I was far more cautious going through these lanes for the rest of the day! :)
We successfully arrived in Popayan early in the afternoon and had a walk around the town after locating a nice little hotel with a lovely courtyard.
Popayan is another small "colonial" city with all whitewashed walls and pleasant architecture. These days that word is always said with rolling eyes since I am just about all "colonialed" out! That said, the colonial towns are still generally far nicer than their modern heartless equivalents :)
A mostly good day - but I think the gods were telling me I should pay more attention so I´ll try to work on that :)
