Cochrane to Coihaique. 19/02 - 23/02 : Dry at last!

Spirits were up, as was the Sun.

At last we could see the Caraterra Austral!

Enjoy the riding

And celebrate John´s birthday

The last 100km to Coihaique was paved, relief for our butts at last! 47mph, toot toot!!

Finally we arrive.

Villa O'Higgins to Cochrane. 15/02 - 17/02 : RAIN

Day 4 of rain. We heard the Caraterra Austral was wet, but this was getting stupid. 50km, another ripped tyre and 3 more punctures.

Another day and surprise surprise more rain. This was now 5 days solid.

Still, we were making progress, and for once no mechanical issues! Just wet

Day 6. Rain, no this is not usual.

Even the locals have never seen the like.

El Chalten to Villa O´Higgins. 12/02 - 15/02 : Mud, Sweat and Tears

That´s tears as in rips, we ain´t no wimps!!

The journey consisted of bike, ferry, walk, bike, ferry, bike.

Day 1.

An easy ride past Fitz Roy, unfortunately it was too cloudy to see the mountains in their full glory.

Then either a 40 minute ferry ride or a 5 hour hike to the Argentinian border. Guess which we chose.

Day 2. More rain.
Walking 3 miles in 3 hours up hill on mud, rocks, shale, over logs and rivers.

We were joking what obstacles we hadn´t encountered when we came across...

Day 3.
36 hours of rain hadn´t dampened our spirits

15km of biking, 1 ripped tyre and 2 sets of brake blocks later we arrived at the port to find 20 people who´d been waiting for the ferry for 4 days...

Luckily we only had to wait 4 hours.

72 hours after leaving the last village in Argentina, we arried in the first village in Chile!

Torres del Paine (Chi.) to El Calafate (Arg.). 8/02 - 10/02 : Broken

220km of nothing but wind, ripio and steppe! Everything was broken; wheels, panniers, racks, spirits, asses. Lunch was such a treat.

Note, sheltering behind the bush.

However the wind wasn´t all bad. It pushed us uphill for 24 miles in 40 mins.

After 2 days, and reduced to managing 10 miles in 2 hours, we could take no more and hitched the final 45 miles in to El Calafate. Even then waiting for 2 hours in gale force winds was pretty extreme!

Torres Del Paine. 5/02 - 8/02 : Mountains and Ripio

We had experienced the Patagonian wind, now it was the famous ripio. Rough, gravelled, pot-holed, corrogated tracks. 120 miles of the bastards. These roads are tough. Locals thought we were nuts. We didn´t have any by the end.

These roads are evil. They shake and rattle the life out of everything, it wasn´t long before the first road-side repair.

But yet again, the final destination was totally worth it. Torres del PAINe.

El Calafate (Arg.) to Puerto Natales (Chi.). 3/02 - 4/02 : How much are 3 potatoes??

Well according to the Chilean Government, $111,489. Luckily this is Peso, but that´s still US$180.

Will thought it´d be fine to smuggle fresh produce across the border...

Moreno Glacier. 31/01 - 2/02 : The Cycling Begins

We couldn´t delay it any longer, had to get on the bikes at some point. So we cycled from El Calafate towards the Moreno Glacier. 28 miles of head-wind, sometimes as slow as 4mph, we could´ve walked faster. What a bitch. We both wanted to quit.

The next couple of days made up for it. Great cycling and camping in the middle of nowhere under clear skies. This was the reason for coming.









And at the end, the Glacier.

Buenos Aires to El Calafate. 30/01 - 31/01 : Packing Panic 2

The flight from London made us realise we had to pack our bikes better. What´s bubblewrap in Spanish though? After a couple of hours of searching and expressive sign-language, Will had a new shell...