Rob in The Andes: Day 22 Bushcamp to Caraz

This was only a short day of around 66K, but with only about 33% paved and a lot of climbing it was going to take us a long time. There was one other reason for the day to be long - it was by far the most stunning scenery we had seen on the trip so far! We left bushcamp at 8am and continued to travel up the Canon del Pato, gently climbing all day. The sun came out quite early on, the wind was behind us again and the scenery just got better & better. I was certainly in no rush to get to lunch which was around 30K and just by one of the early tunnels of the day, there were more than 30 today!.
After lunch we travelled through most of the tunnels for the day, and in one of the longest I got off my bike and pressed myself with my bike close to the wall as at least 3 pick-ups came through. They all saw me, thank goodness, but the air was now thick with the talcum powder type dust they threw up! I could not get my orientation again and ended up walking the remainder of the tunnel to the exit, it was the safest thing to do.
Eventually the Canon del Pato ended and the valley widened as the last 15K to Caraz was mainly on smooth tarmac. With the winds assistance it was weird as you felt like you should be going down hill as you looked at the road ahead, but slowly the altitude was getting higher! We had seen some amazing scenery, only travelled just over 67K, climbed a total of 1780 metres and were now at an altitude of just under 2300 metres - a really fantastic day that we all talked about through the evening.