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by claire-n-dave, order by Date newest first.

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We set off from Villa O'Higgins
We set off from Villa O'Higgins
in search of adventure on the Carretera Austral... and a haircut
Dust. Headwinds. Gusts from the side strong enough to blow cyclists off the road. The occasional tailwind! Rain. Climbs, descents and more climbs. Gravel roads. Endless corrugations. Potholes. Teeth rattled loose in the jaw. Stock cubes turned to a residue that is reminiscent of used engine oil. A blessed stretch of tarmac. Tábanos (horseflies) in at least three, equally voracious and persistent species. Orange-framed bridges over turquoise rivers. Turquoise lakes. Deep green rivers. Hundreds of waterfalls freefalling out of clouds. Roads hugging the edges of cliffs high above turbulent rivers [View Full Entry]

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1933 Words | 4 Comment(s) | 27 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: August 7th 2007 | 257 Views | [diary=120473]

Leaving Cochrane
Between Cochrane and Puerto Bertrand
At the top of yet one more climb

Strength against the wind!
Strength against the wind!
Snack break, Christmas Day, overlooking Lago Argentino
I am having a nightmare. An unrelenting headwind is blowing dust and grit into my face as I ride directly into it. The wind is progressively sapping my energy, blowing me across the road or off it, and frustrating all my efforts to move forward. I retreat inwardly, ignoring the brown landscape, experiencing nothing but the roaring in my ears and the constant attention my bike needs to keep upright. But it's not a dream; it's our first day cycling in Patagonia. We had planned and catered for 3 days, plus 1 day's contingency, to complete the leg across the semi-arid [View Full Entry]

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2034 Words | 9 Comment(s) | 38 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: January 22nd 2007 | 394 Views | [diary=116501]

Typical Patagonian landscape between El Calafate and El Chaltén
Ruta 40 runs alongside Rio La Leona for a way
A campsite out of the wind

Glaciar Perito Moreno
Glaciar Perito Moreno
The semi-circle of ice in the water to the rear is caused by the wave created by a piece of ice calving off the face of the glacier
With the realisation that we could easily spend a month cycling to reach the southern end of our next major destination, the Carretera Austral, and that that would eat into time we want to spend in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru, we decided to take the bus from Ushuaia to El Calafate. Once through the mountains north of Ushuaia we were into flat plains that continue through the rest of Tierra del Fuego and all of Patagonia. What an awesome expanse, even from the capsule of an air-conditioned bus. It had Claire reminiscing about friends and travels in similar landscapes in the [View Full Entry]

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674 Words | 2 Comment(s) | 13 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: January 5th 2007 | 244 Views | [diary=113165]

The face of Perito Moreno that feeds Lago Argentino
On a headland path overlooking the glacier
One species of wildflower common to this part of southern Patagonia

By claire n dave
December 12th 2006

The white continent

 
Dreams come true
Dreams come true
Dave and Claire at Neko Harbour in the Antarctic Peninsula on one of the few sunny days
We turned south out of the calm waters of the Beagle Channel — and we are in the Drake Passage, on our way to the Antarctic Peninsula. How can one describe the Antarctic? Words are inadequate, and photos don't come close to capturing the grandeur of the environment. So, this must suffice as rough sketches from our trip, four days on the Drake Passage and five days cruising the protected waters of the Antarctic Peninsula. On board with us on the MV Akademic Shokalskiy with us were the 24 Russian crew, an expedition staff of people who have worked or adventured [View Full Entry]

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2045 Words | 6 Comment(s) | 48 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: December 23rd 2006 | 553 Views | [diary=110384]

All aboard on a windy Ushuaia afternoon
Waiting to go ashore
Going ashore at Devil Island

Arrival in Ushuaia
Arrival in Ushuaia
Riding out of the airport on a clear cool afternoon
Having booked a last-minute cabin on an expedition ship to Antarctica over the internet, we had to get ourselves to Ushuaia in Argentinean Tierra del Fuego pronto. A quick visit to the airline office in Castro (capital of Chiloe) secured us two tickets from Puerto Montt to Ushuaia, arriving in time to explore the southern end of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego before embarking on our ship. The name Tierra del Fuego (literally Land of Fire) comes from Ferdinand Magellan, who was the first European to pass it in 1520. He named this island after the many fires of the [View Full Entry]

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503 Words | 6 Comment(s) | 12 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: December 16th 2006 | 228 Views | [diary=110923]

Stunted lenga trees
More stunted trees
Stormy skies

It had been quite a day getting to Chiloé. We'd ridden 60km in a headwind through coastal scrub along the Ruta 5, which south of Puerto Montt shrinks to two lanes while carrying as much traffic as the four-lane highway. We had enjoyed a respite on the vehicle ferry to Chiloé, turned the cranks for a few more kilometres on Ruta 5 island-side and headed north towards the coast. We had only about 10 kilometres to go on small, steep hills paved with loose gravel that we had to coax the bikes over. We crested the last hill, skidded down to [View Full Entry]

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1317 Words | 2 Comment(s) | 31 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: November 22nd 2006 | 307 Views | [diary=103692]

Last pickin
Tent with a view
An 800m slog across the beach took us to a road to Caulín village

Lorena´s birthday party
Lorena´s birthday party
Lorena was one of our hosts at the El Refugio hostel in Pucon. She is the one in black two places to Dave´s right; her partner, Peter, our other host, is on the left.
Leaving Pucon was hard. Not only was the weather really foul outside the cosy hostel where we were staying, it also meant saying goodbye to all the friends we had made during our visit. Our hosts Peter and Lorena were particularly sad to see us go as we had been their longest-staying guests since they opened three months ago! We eventually managed to get away at 1pm — our latest start yet. Our plan that day was to get to a lakeside village called Lican Ray 60km away on Lago Calafquen. However, 12km up the road and after a thorough soaking [View Full Entry]

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687 Words | 3 Comment(s) | 19 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: November 14th 2006 | 747 Views | [diary=101961]

It´s not all sunny weather and beautiful scenery
Cement cathedral, Osorno
Osorno cathedral

Cattle graze under the gaze of Volcán Villarica
Cattle graze under the gaze of Volcán Villarica
Views of the local volcanoes are typical along the roads around Pucón, in Chile's Lakes District
The Pucón area is blessed with stunning physical beauty, and we couldn't resist giving our bikes a rest to stay for awhile to explore. Besides, we'd booked ourselves a week of Spanish lessons. Pucón is a very touristy tourist town, and we're glad to be visiting outside the tourist season. There is lots of money traded here during the short summer, and now it is quiet. Villarica, although larger, is quieter, being 25km further away from most of the natural attractions. We did take the bikes out for a jaunt out of town one afternoon after a Spanish lesson, to follow [View Full Entry]

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1495 Words | 10 Comment(s) | 26 Photo(s) | 1 Video(s)
Published: November 8th 2006 | 402 Views | [diary=98423]

On an afternoon ride out of Pucón
What a place for a puncture
An huaso shows off the skill of his horses

From Curanilahue, we rode on through major forestry plantations, small farming communities and rolling countryside to Lake Lanalhue where we came across a very nice small hotel with a great room over looking the pretty lake. It was a bit more upmarket than we normally go for but we were in the off-season and managed to bargain the price down. Besides, it was getting late, we were cold and it looked like rain was coming. The man who owns it used to work in a bank in Santiago, and we could tell from his always-beaming face that he knew he'd made [View Full Entry]

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892 Words | 5 Comment(s) | 12 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: November 3rd 2006 | 249 Views | [diary=98421]

Logging trucks a plenty
Claire ascending the pass
Dave contemplates the hills ahead

Dave rehydrating
Dave rehydrating
You can get a litre of beer for less than 2 dollars!
We´d heard lots about the Panamericana (or Ruta 5), the major highway that runs roughly parallel with the Andes for much of the length of South America. So, after a couple of days of eating dirt, at Linares we decided to test ride some smooth tarmac. And smooth it was! Although the speed limit is 120 kilometres an hour here, the lanes are wide, and there is a clean, smooth shoulder, and hardly any traffic for a major highway. We even managed to overtake a couple of locals on bikes and a horse-drawn cart. Like most highways, the Ruta 5 wasn´t [View Full Entry]

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1105 Words | 7 Comment(s) | 16 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: October 9th 2006 | 434 Views | [diary=92989]

The Panamericana looking south towards Parral
Andes from the Panamericana
Roadside shrine in Maule Región



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