Horn OK Please

After a week of beach and desert we left the coast and started climbing up to the Cordillera Blanca, which made me very happy - I've definitely decided I'm a mountain man.

After all the recent troubles with steering/suspension we decided to skip the dubious shortcut, which was on a rough dirt road and we thought probably wouldn't save us much time. Zipping up the other side of the river I think it was definitely the right call, and after a couple of hours the valley tightened and things got a bit more interesting.

First the road got a little narrower, then the drops got a lot bigger. Fortunately the road surface was still pretty decent, although there were a couple of spots where it had partially collapsed into ravine or where a rock slide had made it a bit dicey.

Then we hit our first tunnel! No problem - I could see the other end and we zoomed on through. The next few tunnels were the same sort of deal, then we saw a sign saying we needed to sound our 'claxon'. Even with our limited Spanish we got the message, so after a quick honk we entered the dark tunnel. This continued with the tunnels getting longer and more windy resulting in the horn echoing down the tunnel and canyon walls as we worked our way upwards. Fortunately the downhill traffic was pretty light and only once did we meet someone in a tunnel - he'd only just entered and obviously heard my incessant honking so could easily reverse.

It really is unbelievable that they had built a road up this crazy canyon, but after 40 odd tunnels we came across a little hydroelectric plant which obviously justified the mad road, but still it beggars belief.

Once out the other side we were greeted by magnificent pure white crags poking out from behind the hills. It was surprisingly to see as we were only about 3,000m and all the snow we'd seen previously was a good 2,000m higher.

We cruised on to Camping Guadeloupe, an amazing little camp site nestled up against a steep, steep hillside. Electric, wifi and hot showers in a gorgeous setting - this is what overlanding is all about!

Since we got into Peru the mains electricity has jumped up to 220v for the first time, much to Elvis's disgust. We brought a cheap transformer a few days previously but unfortunately it only lasted a couple of hours before exploding in a cloud of white dust.

We spent a few tranquil days chilling at the camp site, doing some of those jobs that I'd been putting off. Elvis even had his first proper wash for over a year.Read more