"Is it safe?" and "What was it like going up Alto de Letras?" Those are the two questions I'm asked whenever I mention that I spent a chunk of February this year cycling in Colombia. The first question comes from non-cyclists, the second from riders who know their climbs - usually with a glint in their eye.
They know that Letras is the stuff of legend: 80km uphill, rising from steaming valleys to the thin air of a 3,680m pass. It was lined up for day three of our 10-day tour across the Andes - but I knew there was going to be so much more to this amazing country than one massive climb.
