Tag: cycle

Day 13: Villa Cerro Castillo – Camping Doña Dora

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.

Day 11: Coyhaique – El Blanco

Distance: 24.5 miles

Time: 3:17

Elevation Gain: 2,018 feet

After a reasonable sleep in the hotel, I was feeling tired after the long day in the hot sun, yesterday. Today was to be even hotter, peaking at 29°, so after breakfast, as I considered the possibility of packing up all my equipment and getting back on the road, I also considered the fact that this was roughly the half way point of the route between Puerto Montt and Villa O’Higgins, and I still had plenty of time to spare, so I came up with a better plan, take a day off. Unheard of for me on a trip, after the pedalling had started, but there we go. I booked another night in the hotel, and made for the sauna as that seemed a sensible idea when it was almost 30° outside. My watch had told me that I was only 32° acclimatised to the heat conditions, so clearly there was some work to do.

In the afternoon, I popped along to the pharmacist to pick up some eyedrops, in case there were dust based issues down the road, and then I made for the hardware store to pick up some WD-40, to give my bike a little TLC before the tarmac ran out for good.

In the evening, I headed into town, with my sights set on the best pizzeria around, Mamma Gaucha, which was handily placed on the one short pedestrianised area in the centre.

As I approached, I suddenly realised that I recognised the party of three sitting at one of the few tables outside. Or I thought I did, before realising that it was the German girl and the Dutch guy from the group of three cyclists that I’d met before, but on this occasion they were with another cyclist, Jan, from Sweden. I didn’t have to wait long for the Australian from the original trio to join the party. Would I like to join them, yes that sounded like an excellent idea.

One Hot Honey Pepperoni pizza and a few IPAs later, someone had the bright idea of finding another bar, and that we did, finding what seemed like a small local bar that was quite empty on what was a Monday night. But, as the night went on the bar got busier and busier, and then the Karaoke started…

As we all made to leave, at after 2 in the morning, I felt that it was no longer too soon to ask the question. So, what are your names? And now I can share for posterity, that the German girl is called Klara, the Dutch guy is Ry and the Australian is Marcus.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the next morning, I was in no rush to leave town, so I headed in the direction of the supermarket, stopping at the bike shop to pick up some handlebar tape en route.

On reaching the supermarket, one of the German couple was guarding their bikes outside, so I went to say hello. This was Fabian and his partner was Helena. 100 yards down the street I bumped I into the Swiss couple from the campsite the other night, on their way to lunch. Pierre and Claire, who were keen to know that my eyes had improved. Coyhaique had been an excellent place to be for bumping into fellow Carretera cyclists, and even better for finding out their names.

Before I left town, I sat in the square and wrapped a second roll of handlebar tape around my bars, anticipating that my hands would be less keen on the gravel roads than they had been on the tarmac.

After lunch, I set off on what would be part 2 of the Carretera Austral, things were about to become a little more challenging, but first I’d amble along the 20 miles to El Blanco, and leave the climbing for tomorrow.

Day 9: Camping El Chucao – Villa Mañihuales

Distance: 53.76 miles

Time: 6:15

Elevation Gain: 3,153

In the morning, my eyes were much better, and I was up and about to see, first the French girl, and then the Swiss couple, leave, each treated like a mini celebrity by the host, in what was the first few weeks of them running the campsite beside their cabin. Located right at the bottom of a very difficult climb for cyclists, I think it should do quite well.

It was a stunning day, with the temperature set to rise to around 27°, and as I pedalled away, I found myself in a beautiful spot, ringed by mountains, and pedalling along a lake.

It wasn’t long before I saw two cyclists up ahead, and spotting an orange triangular flag on the back of one of the bikes, I assumed it was the Swiss couple from the campsite, however on drawing closer, I discovered that this pair were younger, and were in fact a German couple from Potsdam. They had been on the road for a year already, and not keen on returning home in the winter, would be carrying on until at least the spring. They had started, in the Dominican Republic, before cycling around Cuba, and then down Central America from Mexico to Panama, before skipping the north of South America and continuing down through Argentina and Chile. Where was best I asked? To which the response was that Cuba and Nicaragua were pretty great, but that Chile was quickly climbing up the list.

The couple stopped for a break, so I pushed on myself, over some very lumpy miles to Villa Amengual, where I stopped looking for a shop, to find the group of three who I had seen at the restaurant the day before, sitting on a bench in the shade. They joked that they’d just heard about my red eyes from the Swiss couple. The group consisted of males from Australia and the Netherlands, and a female from Germany. They were on trips of various lengths, the shortest being the 6 weeks the German girl had, and they were in the middle of trying to pack large quantities of stuff, including a very large box of wine, into their panniers.

They believed the shop they’d been to was closed for lunch, so I found another, before returning to hide under the same tree, just as the German couple from earlier turned up.

Soon after, a Belgian cyclist turned up, joking about how we’d all likely met the same people over the last few days, solely knowing them as ‘the Australian guy’, or ‘the two Germans’. However true that may be, this sense of community within the cycle touring fraternity was always a highlight of a trip.

Eventually, I made to leave, and it wasn’t long before I spotted the group of three about to go for a swim, down off the road, in beautiful Lago Verde. It was a hot day and the water looked inviting, but the call of the road was too great, and I was keen to start chipping away at the distance to Mañihuales.

The backdrop to the ride was sensational, with snowcapped peaks and abundant wild flowers, lining the fields.

Just as I was about to stop at a bus stop for a break, the Belgian cyclist, turned up, his name was Julien, which disproves the myth that we never know each other’s names, and he said he had 6 weeks to do his trip. Sounded very reasonable I thought, until he told me his trip was from Santiago to Ushuaia. He was planning on continuing a few more miles to a campsite at Lago Aguirre Cerda, ‘maybe he’d see me there’, he asked. That sounded great I responded, but I’d only covered 35 miles, so I was hoping to manage a few more.

I’d covered nearly 54 miles by the time I reached Mañihuales, stopping at a bakery, for a small pizza and a doughnut, before moving on to a shop, where I discovered a large group of cyclists from New Zealand and Australia. ‘Oh you’re from Scotland’ they asked, ‘whereabouts, we’re travelling with someone from Fife, and someone from Dundee’. Right. Well I’m from Fife too, as it happens…

Day 6: Villa Santa Lucía – La Junta

Distance: 42.52 miles

Time: 4:19:33

Elevation Gain: 2,717 feet

On leaving the hostel, I made my way over to the shop at the campsite, buying a few items before being told that they didn’t have any bread and to try the Empanadas stall across the road. So back I went to the scene of last night’s dinner, picking up a few bread rolls and 2 empanadas de manzana (apple pastries).

Just as I was about to head out of town, I spotted Andrew sitting outside a cafe on the main road, so stopped to thank him for his hostel recommendation. We got talking about all things cycle-touring, something he was new to after many years of hiking, most notably completing the Pacific Crest trail in the United States.

It was a stunning day, around 20°, with a stiff breeze, and I was surrounded by highly-vegetated mountains with snowcaps, it reminded me strongly of Norway.
I set off into the wind, and soon began to closely track the river, captivated by its startling turquoise hue.

After 10 miles, I lowered myself down to the drops on the handlebars, to combat the effects of the wind, and felt a swift change of mindset as the motivation for the trip switched from sightseeing and travel, to a desire to push through the miles on the bike.

Spotting a bus stop up ahead, I took the opportunity to escape the wind and restore some energy, and not long afterwards, another cyclist stopped to do the same. His name was Steve, and he was a school teacher from Melbourne, who had previously completed an end to end of Japan. He was originally from Manchester, which might explain why we were able to understand each other much more easily than with some of the other conversations I’d had on the road.

He was travelling fast and light, on a carbon gravel bike, with an aerodynamic set up of bikepacking bags, and rather neatly a 3 litre triangular water vessel that fitted within the triangle of the bike frame. He was pushing some big miles, hoping for 200 km a day, but there was obvious wear and tear on himself and the bike, which wasn’t helped when the bike toppled from its perch onto the road while we were talking. It seemed sturdy enough, maybe there was something to be said for a light carbon set up for this kind of ride, instead of the bombproof steel frame that I was lugging up the climbs?

Speaking of climbs, the rode undulated a few more times, climbing high above the river, before I dropped down to a bridge just outside La Junta, my eyes drawn to the sign for Camping Agua Vida. Reviews suggested it was the best around, so I rolled through the gate.

As I looked for a camping spot in the pleasant looking site, I passed a man with a flowing white beard stoking the fire underneath two large sheep carcasses. ‘Carne?’ It seemed like the man was offering me meat, but I wasn’t quite sure how to respond.

Later in the evening, as I was sitting at the picnic bench beside my tent, having just consumed a large pan of pasta, the man came over and repeated his question, at which point I turned and realised that everyone in the site was in the midst of a huge feast, with the meat the focal point and large bowls of salad and potatoes being passed around. Cutlery was thrust in my hand, and I soon realised that the man with the flowing beard was the owner of the site, and they were hosting the party.

Fortuitously, I was sat beside an Italian, Daniele, who happened to speak English. He came from the Dolomites, but now worked here most of the year round, largely at one of the thermal baths along the road in Raúl Marín Balmaceda, but also as a rafting guide up river in Futaleufú.

During the summer he went back to Italy and worked there for two months as a rafting guide too. His long term plan was to build a house and cabañas here, which he already had the land for, with one hectare in the area costing as little as €12,000.

The party was tradition at Christmas and New Year. Clearly the owner was in his element and fortunately Daniele was able to translate some of the amusing things he was saying. One quote being, ‘in the summer we drink fine wine with rich people, and in the winter, we drink’, and also, while pouring me a large tumbler of wine, he had implied that it was so that I would stay for another 2 nights. He spent the evening calling me ‘Escocia’, that much I understood.

It was a late night, and certainly a much better New Year’s Eve than I was expecting, I could see why Daniele might want to live here!