At 3,191m Colca canyon is one of the world's deepest. A dirt track runs alongside it to a look-out point where if you're lucky you can see condors. The track starts off okay but gets progressively worse. It was at one of the tricky bits (downhill, loose gravel & dirt) that I was faced with a donkey roadblock. My attempt to avoid them ended with both me and the bike on our sides. I carried on a bit further after that but when the wind got so strong that it threatened to blow me off the road and into the canyon I decided that the condors weren't worth it and turned back.
On the journey from Arequipa to the canyon I reached the highest altitude of the trip so far - 4,900m. That's higher than Mont Blanc but as the rest of the day was spent riding over a 4,500m plateaux I wasn't really aware of the extra gain in height.
