Distance: 48.17 miles

Time: 7:12

Elevation Gain: 3,704 feet

Being the last big town of the Carretera Austral route, it made sense to have a rest day in Cochrane, to prepare for the remote stretch ahead, so that’s what we did. Taking some clothes to the laundromat, stocking up on several days of food, and for my part trying to sort out my brakes, which now seemed to be stuck on in a position that barely allowed the wheels to turn and had made the day before quite a difficult pedal.

Fortunately we had plenty of time to manage all of these things, and for Desiree to take her bike for a check up that had been recommended by the bike hire company, and where she had to explain why there was now a piece of wood playing a vital role in the mounting system of her handlebar bag.

Whilst we were standing outside the workshop, another cyclist turned up with a bike to fix. He was German, but had been living in Canada until two years before, when he had set off back and forward across Canada before turning south and continuing onwards until he had met a partner, here in Chile. Now they were readying to move to Germany, and it sounded like he had been operating as part-competitor, part-business partner to the local mechanic while he had been living here.

The rest day also gave me an opportunity to find out a little bit more about Desiree as well, she was German, but now had Ecuadorean citizenship. She’d studied in Vienna and Barcelona, and also lived in Myanmar, Argentina, Ecuador and Peru, and after the trip she’d be moving her life back from Lima to Quito, where she was also the frontwoman of a punk band, who had just toured in the Southern United States. Other than commuting, she didn’t do a lot of cycling, but had done some climbing around Quito, including 5,897m, Cotopaxi.

On leaving Cochrane, we had stocked up for the three days that I’d originally planned to reach Villa O’Higgins in, but by the time we actually left, we’d already decided to aim for Caleta Tortel by the end of day two, a combined total of about 80 miles. This involved a detour for me, but was a heavily recommended side-trip, and Desiree was planning a rest day there. I would skip the rest day, and push on for Villa O’Higgins, in another two days, instead. Caleta Tortel would have been another resupply point if we’d planned for it, so our bikes were probably heavier than necessary.

Setting off, it wasn’t long before we reached the dreaded ‘fin pavimento’ sign, on the outskirts of town, fortunately we received a stay of execution for many miles afterwards, with the tarmac continuing until we reached a bridge after Laguna Esmerelda.

Desiree was in good spirits, but I did get a bit of a surprise when I suddenly heard singing, back down the road. She broke into song several times during the day, and the highlight was, by common agreement, a rousing A cappella duet of the Radiohead song, Creep

After the end of the pavimento, the ripio (gravel) track that continued, climbed high onto a wilderness plateau, and was rough and rutted, with a washboard consistency that was jarring on both, bikes, and riders. A steep hairpin bend opened up views of the glaciated top of Cerro Trunco, some 2000+ metres high.

Towards the end of this rough rolling section over the plateau, the next part was made more interesting by a pair of Andean condors circling high above the forest as we started to drop down alongside the Río Barrancoso on the way to the turn off towards Los Ñadis.

Beyond the turn off, the road levelled out, we were pleased with the progress we had been making for the day, and had already covered 30 miles, when we encountered 4 female German cycle tourists standing beside where a cafe was marked on the map. The gates to what looked like a farmhouse were closed, but soon one of the group made contact with the owners and we were all invited in for a feast of bread and jam, the best being rhubarb, and several flasks of coffee.

Having conversed in English initially, and in Spanish with our hosts, the girls, who were from Cologne, were surprised when they learned that Desiree was also German, from Aschaffenburg in Bavaria. Thankfully, they kept on speaking in English, for me.

The group were going to be travelling for several months, having just arrived in Caleta Tortel on the 3 day ferry from Puerto Natales, where they’d had to endure the whole trip from the comfort of a reclining chair. Their plan was to travel as far as Lima, so they took Desiree’s number in case she was still there when they got there.

The break had been very pleasant, but the lengthy time off the bikes had allowed the weather to take a turn for the worse, and by the time that we reached the first campsite option Patigon Baucha, after 12 miles, we were starting to get rather wet. The sheltered tent spaces were occupied and the open field and lack of communal enclosed spaces, stopped us from lingering too long, and we carried on into the rain.

Another few miles saw us sheltering under a tree at the worst of the conditions, but eventually after 48 miles for the day, we found somewhere that looked like home for the night. El Risquero had camping in a field on a farm, but after a little negotiation from Desiree, we were offered the use of the old farm buildings to set up our tents, and that seemed ideal, until the lady pointed us in the direction of the empty six bed dormitory up the stairs.

Even better, as we were able to use the downstairs space to dry our clothes, and there was also a kitchen area, so while I went off to enjoy a highly-restorative hot shower, Desiree whipped up a hearty 2 course meal, comprising chicken soup, followed by polenta and salami. There was even hot chocolate for afterwards, to ensure that the recovery process had well and truly begun, after a hard day on the road.

• bikepacking
• cycle-touring