Distance: 51.93 miles

Time: 7:28

Elevation Gain: 3,878 feet

Although the next stop on my itinerary was Doña Dora campsite, more than 50 miles away, I was still riding with Desiree and was aware that she was a lot newer to this than me, so my thought for today was to split the 73 miles to Puerto Río Tranquilo more evenly into two days, and see where we ended up, with the possible option of a wild camp in what was quite a remote section.

We stopped off at a fruteria and the supermarket to stock up on supplies before setting off out of town, there was a long climb to start the day, but the views we were seeing, and the ones we were heading too, of the Cerro Castillo mountain massif made it all worthwhile.

Soon we reached the dreaded ‘fin pavimento’ sign, where, effectively, the tarmac ran out for the rest of the route. And, when it did, it was replaced with the worst surface imaginable, large chunky stones right across the carriageway, and with a regular procession of trucks and pick up trucks for company.

The views along the Río Ibáñez remained sensational, with one sweeping downhill bend offering incredible views of the river’s flood plain and an en-widened meander in the glacially-fed river.

Once we reached level ground, down alongside the river now, the going was tough. There was a strong headwind, the first occasional showers for a week or so, and the road surface itself was punishing, with an occasional smoother track near the middle, and with patches of washboard, alongside deep pools of dry dust as the road dropped towards the edges, oftentimes where we forced by the fast-moving oncoming traffic.

A little low in energy, and certainly in motivation, Desiree had stopped up off the road up ahead, to take on some fuel. She had already forewarned me for what might happen next, that she was going to try to get a lift in a pickup truck. Not happy at having to abandon her by the side of the road, I offered to stay until she found a ride. But she remained resolute, she did this all the time, and she’d be fine, and as someone who’d lived in Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, and Myanmar, she was probably in a better educated position to say that than most.

I re-evaluated the situation, it was nearly 4 o’clock and I’d only covered 15 miles or so, some of which had been extremely rough and punishing, however, I started to make strong progress in the challenging conditions, and quickly re-set my target for the day to Doña Dora campsite, which would be 50 miles for the day.

For 10 miles I pushed on, making good headway, until I reached a long steep slope of thick damp dirt, my wheels skidding on the peculiar surface, until I reached a layby, near the top, and stopped to take in the views of another fine bridge far below.

At that point, there was a toot from a passing pickup and I spotted Desiree happily waving from the passenger seat, it seemed likely she’d continue all the way to Puerto Río Tranquilo today.

After the long steep hill, the road started to undulate steeply along the side of Laguna Verde, and this trend in road profile remained, even when I reached a pronounced bend in the road, with my direction switching from West to South, and the delight of escaping the headwind, tempered by repeatedly energy sapping climbs.

The road was in a high valley along the river when I pedalled the last few miles to Doña Dora campsite at 10 o’clock, only shortly before dark. The camping spot was in sparsely populated forest-land at a farm, and the sole other occupants were an Argentinian couple with a campervan, who were hunkered down in a cosy communal cabin maintaining the fire, it was much appreciated when I was cooking up some pasta in the early hours of the morning.

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