For years I’d been meaning to map a route north towards Bogotá from one of my favourite places in Colombia, San Agustin, using mostly gravel and b-roads, and in July 2023 I finally found time do it! I was still recovering from a 32 hour non-stop ride a few days before, so I decided to leave San Agustin by the mostly quiet main road and start the gravel just after Pitalito. But if you want to make this a fully gravel & b-road adventure, you could start by following the San Agustin – Isnos route on this site, and from Isnos map a route to Oporapa where you can join up with this one (something I also plan to do in the future).

I recommend leaving San Agustin just before dawn, so you can catch the sunrise as you ride down the beautiful descent that starts at the outskirts of San Agustin, with its glimpses of the River Magdalena canyon and surrounding mountains all the way down. Then, after riding through Pitalito’s crazy morning traffic, you turn off onto a paved b-road that winds its way down some epic hairpins to a single-lane bright yellow steel bridge that crosses the River Magdalena. Just after the bridge, the gravel begins with a little-known gem of a climb that snakes its way up to Serranía de Minas, a 29,000 hectare protected area above 2,300 masl, that provides much of Huila with its water supply.

The climb is hard. It’s 25 km long with an average gradient of 6.9% as it rises up into the foothills of Colombia’s central mountain range through some truly spectacular scenery. More than the gradients, the heat was the hardest part for me; it’s intense from the start and doesn’t really abate until you get above 2,000 masl. But there are a couple of small villages along the route with basic general stores where you can take a break, and stock up on water, snacks and ice cream.

All the way up the climb the vistas are breathtaking, but one in particular sticks in my mind: a few kms after Oporapa, the view suddenly opens up, and you can see all the way back to Pitalito, way below you and about 35 km away as the crow flies, and across to the peaks of the Colombian Massif in the distance. It took my breath away and literally brought a tear to my eye!

Once you hit the top of the climb, things get a lot easier. Well, as easy as they can be when riding in the Colombian mountains! In essence, the next part of the route is a 200 km descent that gradually takes you down from 2,320 to 370 masl, with, of course, a few short & punchy climbs to keep you on your toes. There are lots of places to stay after you crest the climb, the first being in and around the small town of La Argentina, 100 km from San Agustin, then a few kilometres later you reach the larger town of La Plata, followed by Paicol and Tesalia. I chose to ride on to Tesalia and spend the night there. As with a lot of small towns in Colombia, it’s a good idea to find food as soon as you arrive as most places close early.

The section from Tesalia to to Neiva is fairly gentle and very picturesque, with a huge variety of vistas as you ride through coffee and sugar cane plantations, across multiple rivers, over rises and through dips. There are villages all along the route where you can stock up on supplies, and lots of places to stop for the night. Just after the small town of Iquira you reach a decision point: you can either follow the route I chose that flows along the edge of the central mountain range, with vistas out across the huge River Magdalena valley, or turn right towards Yaguará and ride along the shores of the enormous Betania Reservoir. It’s six of one and half a dozen of the other, and both are spectacular!

Another decision point comes when you reach Neiva. I had to bypass the city and ride for a few km up the main highway to meet some friends in the town of Aipe, where we crossed the River Magdalena on a small boat. A less busy way of riding this segment is to go through Neiva and ride on to Villavieja, the more traditional starting point for visiting the Tatacoa Desert. Again, both have their charm, but personally I prefer the quieter route that you can find here.

And then comes the desert. Technically it’s not actually a desert but a tropical dry forest, but when you’re riding its sandy tracks and the temperature hits 44.7° C at midday, without a single patch of shade to shelter in, it sure feels like a desert! The scenery is amazing, with open vistas across the scorched earth to the foothills of the eastern mountain range in the distance. Make sure to stock up on water for this part of the ride as there are no shops between Villavieja and Baraya; although it’s only 35 km, it’s easy to run dry in the intense heat.

After Baraya, the first of many climbs begins, and it’s a really beauty. Although the average gradient of just 4.6%, it’s 30km long and has some challenging steeper segments towards the top. The vistas all the way up are amazing, looking back towards the base of the climb on the first half, and then right across the River Magdalena valley to the mountains way off in the distance. The heat is intense. The day we rode it the temperature hit 40° C at the base of the climb, and didn’t drop below 35° C until we rose above 1,000 masl. After that, it did drop gradually, and by the time we reached the summit (1,500 masl) it was a much more manageable 22° C. There are almost no shops on the way up the climb, and no villages until you reach Alpujarra (20 km or so) and then La Arada (10 km after that). Both have shops, restaurants and basic hostelries if you’re not up for riding on to Dolores, where we spent the night.

After taking a break for food & drinks in La Arada, we rode on to Dolores. I was so tired that I can’t really remember anything about this segment; looking at the map, it was 15 km, with a short descent and climb. What I do remember was the feeling of satisfaction, and relief, as we rode into the picturesque town of Dolores in the early evening, found a nice guesthouse, had a cold shower, and went out for some well-deserved beers and monumental amounts of pizza!

The next morning, after a hearty breakfast of local tamales, arepas, eggs and rice, we started the day with the lovely 26 km somewhat technical descent down to Rio Negro. We had planned to ride to Villarica that day and spend the night there before riding into Bogotá through the Páramo de Sumapaz, but as the day went on a series of punctures and mechanicals, and the insane, hot, long, technical 28 km climb up from Rio Negro to Villa Esperanza that took hours longer than we’d planned for, forced us to change our plans. The scenery on the climb was truly amazing, and on balance we enjoyed it, but we had to ride through some dark moments; the terrain is unforgiving, with huge ruts and grapefruit-sized rocks all the way up, gradients of up to 24%, and intense heat that ranged from 40° C at the base of the climb to 26° C at the top. There are no shops at all on this part of the route and all of us had run out of water before we reached the half-way point. We were saved from dehydration (and misery) by a lovely family whose farm we stopped at to ask if they had water. A friendly boy brought us two huge jugs of ice-cold water, and we chatted about cycling, the world and everything as we quenched our thirst and filled our bottles for the second half of the climb.

A while later we reached the village of Villa Esperanza and stopped for a rest. We asked around, and soon realised that there was little chance of reaching Villarica before everything closed for the night; it was already late afternoon and we were told that the track was rough and technical all the way to Villarica. We weren’t ready to stop for the day, so we decided to remap the route through the nearby village of Tres Esquinas, where we were told there were restaurants and guest houses. Unfortunately, when we reached Tres Esquinas, just as night was falling, we found that the only “guesthouse” was a tiny family home that kicked the kids out of their rooms (with no doors) so guests could sleep in them. Not cool! So, after a huge meal and a couple of beers we decided to push on to Cunday, a town about 40km away, and see if we could find somewhere to sleep there.

The ride was uneventful – dark and demanding with a couple of solid gravel climbs and a lot of angry dogs – and after a brief stop at the only place in Cunday that was open, we decided to head on to Melgar as we still had some energy in our legs. The climb out of Cunday is amazing, with gorgeous views back across to the town all the way up; once you hit the top, a smooth, fast descent takes you down to the town of Carmen de Apicalá, from where it’s just a short push to Melgar. It was 3am by the time we arrived, and we decided to catch a bus back to Bogotá. Huge inter-municipal busses regularly pass along the highway outside Melgar all night long, and will happily accommodate weary cyclists and their bikes for less than the price of a night in a hotel; we were soon fast asleep on amazingly comfortable reclining seats, dreaming of the day’s adventures!

If you’re not one for putting your bike on a bus, there are many ways to pedal your way up to Bogotá. Two already on this site are here and here, and I’ll be posting more soon.