14th March Valle de Lieva – Bogota 157 miles

Not far to Bogota now so we have our usual late start and our usual trouble finding a way out of the town. The problem this time was the road ran out after about 5 miles and we were off road, we carried on for s little while and decided that we didn’t want to do 30 or more miles off road so we turned around and went back to the town. We have 2 choices leaving here as we can go West, our first option, or we can go East and pick up another road heading South to Bogota. So we leave in the opposite direction, the road is fine and we then come to a main road with a peage and away we go, this road is not on either sat nav.
We need to get to Bogota with only a small amount of fuel so we need to do ‘a splash and dash’ and buy a gallon each.
On the way we want to stop at a salt cathedral we have been told about, it is fantastic. It is essentially a salt mine and the miners have build a cathedral inside so that they can pray to God to keep them safe. Well they have made 14 stations to mark the several stages of Jesus at the end of his life. Then there is a chapel and a massive cathedral and all the kneelers, crosses, figures and alters are carved in the rack salt. It is just incredible and we travel down to a depth 33 metres below where we entered and we have gone 1 kilometre in.
We are now going to have to move as we need to get to Bogota before dark. Well that was the plan but we soon run into traffic and it is a nightmare, also navigating through the city as logic doesn’t seem to work. We eventually get to the airport and find cargo and then get a moto taxi to guide us to Schenker, the carrier we are shipping the bikes with. Well that should save a bit of time tomorrow but now we need a hotel. Off we go towards town and hit a massive traffic jam caused by an accident and after sitting stationary for some time we decide to cross a central reservation and go to another carriageway. This is not as simple as it sounds as the reservation is about 6 feet wide and 3 feet high so a bit of a run and a lot of gas and we are away again.
We find a hotel that is a business class hotel next to the Marriot and Sheriton, but we thought we would find out how much, well after entering every guest is in a suit and there we are looking like the hairy bikers, having asked how much for a room our chap disappears only to return and tell us they had no rooms, yeh right. Outside we meet a chap who says ‘you’re a long way from home’, it’s a guy called Nigel from Liverpool, now working in Bogota. After a short chat he offers his apartment to crash in but we would need to be out at 7 as he has to go to work and he tells us this hotel is about $250 a night and the Marriot about $400. Well 7 is a little early as we have a lot to sort out tomorrow checking the bikes in.
Long story short, we hopelessly lost and eventually tried a hotel we were just passing and got booked in at about 10.30, a bit late to be trucking around Bogota but ended well. Dinner was a delivered burger in our room, eaten at about midnight yummy, not!