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May 2010 Travelogue

Cycling from Popayan to El Bordo in Colombia

Dave Briggs
By Dave Briggs · Published 2010-05-26 · Last updated 2026-07-18
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Bike Touring Blog from May 2010: Another challenging day cycling through Colombia, but made more pleasant by meeting other cyclists on a bike tour.

The ups and downs of Colombia

Blog Post Written: May 26 2010

It was very easy to cycle out of Popayan, although the cycling for the rest of the day was reasonably strenuous. When you've climbed up to 1900 metres, dropped down 400 metres and repeat that a few times, it's a touch on the tiring side.

cycling between Popayan and El Bordo

Along the way, I met Jeff and Rose, an older Australian couple who were cycling from Cancun to Argentina. If I had to guess their ages, I would say late 50's early 60's (if wrong, many apologies!).

Its great to see age being no barrier on cycling trips like this, and hopefully, I will still be doing crazy things like this into my seventies!!

mountains in colombia cycling Popayan and El Bordo

After a roadside chat, I cycled on ahead and met them in a restaurant for lunch. What a pleasant change to have a decent conversation in English!

mountains seen when cycling from Popayan to El Bordo

From where we had stopped, it was only 15 kms or so to the town of El Bordo where we stayed at the same bargain hotel.

At 15,000 a room it was a good one and affordable, more so for Jeff and Rose who paid the same price for their room. I really should get a cycling partner for these trips!

Read more about cycling from Alaska to Argentina

Dave Briggs, writer at Dave's Travel Pages
Dave Briggs
Dave is a UK travel writer living in Athens since 2015. With 20 years of firsthand travel experience and over 80,000 km of bicycle touring across six continents, he's been blogging at Dave's Travel Pages since 2005. Every guide is based on places he's actually been.
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