Imbabura

Phil finally persuaded me that we needed to try a peak called Imbabura that had been towering above our various camp sites for a week. We started off up the road, and then followed the signs up a cobbled road. It got pretty steep and Elvis kept finding gears we didn't know he had. The last couple of km turned into a dirt road, albeit a pretty good one at this stage, so we pushed on as high as we could knowing it would mean less metres on foot tomorrow. We found a decent place to camp and prepped for an early start. It promptly started to rain and continued throughout the night...

The next day, early but definitely not bright, we started walking through the mist to the well trodden but steep and slippery path. It was pretty relentless uphill with the rocky scrambles a bit of a relief compared to the super slippery grass and mud sections. We got a 150m or so from the top when the freezing hail got worse and we started feeling the cold. There were a few locals who had helmets and better gear than us decided not to risk the summit so we followed their advice and turned around.

The way down was harder than up! Phil & I both slipped over at least 5 times getting completely muddy on top of being soaked to the bone. The thing that kept me going was the promise of getting back to the van & heading back to Finca Sommerwind for their amazing Sunday cakes! Little was I to know the hardest and scariest part of the day had not yet started...

What had been a reasonable dirt road had been turned into a thick muddy track by all the rain & at times Elvis's rear end was trying to overtake his front! We seriously considered that we may have had to stay up on the mountain and wait for the road to dry - I could see the promise of cake slipping away - however Phil let the tyres down which improved the grip & he brilliantly managed to inch down the road. I have never been so happy to see a cobbled road in my life. Happy ending - we made it in time for cake!Read more