This amazing and demanding route takes you on a loop from Bogotá, past the Guavio reservoir, down to the eastern plains of Meta and Casanare, up one of Colombia’s most demanding climbs to a high altitude lake, across a stunning páramo, and past the source of the River Bogotá.

The route takes you out of the city on the paved Alto de Patios climb, before turning off onto a lovely (and fairly gentle) gravel route to the small town of Guasca, where there are lots of shops, restaurants and places to stay. It then follows the paved climb up to La Cuchilla, and the epic 35km paved descent down to Sueva (there is a stunning and much more intense gravel variant from Guasca to Gachetá detailed in the Guavio route on this site). A few kms past the village of Sueva you’ll find a series of hostels close to the river, some with thermal springs, but it makes more sense to continue on to the town of Gachetá to resupply and spend the night there.

A few kms outside Gachetá, you reach the start of the picturesque, partially paved road that circles the reservoir, with lots of places to resupply along the way, and a few places to stay. If you plan to ride on past the dam in one go, the last resupply point is a few kms past the village of Ubalá; after that there are no more shops until Mámbita.

Just before the dam wall at the end of the reservoir, a small and lovely gravel road winds its way down to the base of the massive embankment wall, with cool views all the way down and back up again. At the top of the climb, you’re rewarded with stunning views back over the reservoir and, on a clear day, right across to la Cuchilla, way off in the distance.

The start of the next segment is a tricky descent – it’s beautiful, but desolate, very steep, rocky and technical. It does ease off after about 3 km, so it’s hikeable if you’re not up for riding it! After a while you reach the turn off to a small village called Mámbita where there are shops, restaurants and a couple of hotels. After this, there are no resupply points until Santa María, where the pavement begins again.

From Santa Maria, through San Luis de Gaceno and on to Aguaclara, a gorgeous fast-flowing paved road takes you down a sharp descent, followed by endless rolling hills. When you reach the main road in Aguaclara, a long and fairly flat segment begins. I love the challenge of riding in the intense heat of the lowlands (30°C+), with endless vistas across the plains. If you don’t, just hail down one of the many busses running between Villavicencio and Yopal, and ask the driver to drop you off at Aguazul.

I’d recommend resting up for a night or two in Aguazul. It’s not a particularly inspiring town, but what’s next requires fresh legs… As soon as you leave the town, what is possibly the longest climb in the world begins. I say “possibly” because this topic is the subject of endless debate, but whichever way you look at it, this climb is epic: 104km long, 3,713m of positive elevation, and an average gradient of 4.3%. Start well before dawn if you can, to do the first part of the climb before the intense morning heat of the lowlands becomes a problem, and plan for an all-day climb.

After the first “gentle” 30km, you reach a small village called Pajarito. This is the last guaranteed resupply point until Toquilla, 40km further up, so stock up here on water and anything else you’ve run out of. As you leave Pajarito, the hardest part of the climb begins – 44km at an average gradient of 5.4% with almost no respite. The road is usually very quiet, and the views are magnificent as you ride through the ever-changing mountain landscape, but you will suffer!

Once you reach Toquilla, a small village strung along the road where you’ll find a couple of restaurants, shops and a basic hostel, things ease off a little, and after 33km of rolling terrain you reach the official end of the climb at the Crucero crossroads. From there, it’s a short ride down to Laguna de Tota, a massive high mountain lake surrounded by a multitude of places to stay that cater to every budget. It’s well-worth spending a day or two here recovering from the climb and exploring the local scenery, especially the white sandy beach known, unsurprisingly, as Playa Blanca.

To leave the lake, I’d recommend taking the beautiful road that circles the shore, before rejoining the route in the small village of Tota. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to map this option while I was scouting the route, but I’ve driven it a few times and it’s well worth it.

Just outside Tota, the gravel begins again as you start the rolling route along the western edge of Paramo Bijagual. The scenery is breathtaking and the climbs are intense but short. There are a couple of small shops along the way, but for the most part this segment is free of people, vehicles and settlements until you reach the small town of Rondón after a long and fairly gentle descent.

After that, there are just two more big climbs to go until you’re back over the Eastern Cordillera and on the Cundinamarca high plain once again. The final climb takes you up to a nature reserve that contains the source of the River Bogotá. The reserve only opens sporadically – if you want to visit it, your best option is to stay at the hostel marked on the map and ask the owner to contact the reserve and organise a tour.

From there, it’s just a short descent back down to the main highway, and then rolling hills as you follow the road alongside the Tominé reservoir, through Guatavita and back to Bogotá.

I scouted this route in six epic days as I was short of time. For a more gentle tour, I’d recommend planning for 9-12 days, with overnight stop options in Guasca, Gachetá or Ubalá, Mámbita, Monterrey, Aguazul, Tota (anywhere around the lake), Rondón, Guacheneque and Guatavita.