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Published: December 21st 2007
Hooray - it was great to be back on the bikes and on the road after an excess of town time and panaderia (bakeries). The weather gods again obliged, providing a pretty sundappled treelined road and tailwinds.
Aroha and Penelope were fortunate enough to find themselves on a three hour horse trek with the local gendarmerie (bored border patrol in the middle of nowhere). Amazing if not just for the stunning evening views of Cerro Fitzroy across the lake Lago de Desierto.
This is the most logistical section of the Carretera Austral - the road being transected by two lakes and a rough section of track; not ideal for cycle touring when weighed down by the kitchen sink. So our mountain of bags was loaded onto some longsuffering horses, and we got to MOUNTAINBIKE up to the Argentine-Chile frontier. ´twas reminiscent of the Wharfdale (for the cyclists amongst you) - we grinned the whole way. Across the second lake there is only a once a week ferry service, so an eclectic collection of muddy and tired cyclists appeared on the wharf. As we now have discovered, the Carretera Austral is one of the top 3 cycle tours in the
world. Nothing like pre trip research.
The uspide of lack of knowledge of the road ahead is constantly being mindboggled by the unexpected; incredible scenery reminisent of milford/inland punakaiki.
No longer a novelty, we encounter many cyclists heading both directions. Kate was quick to discover this when emerging from a cheeky wee swim through a culvert under the road, to meet an amused southbound Scottish couple.
And yes - its now warm enough to swim. Devine; the winter woolies are gradually filtering their way towards the bottom of our panniers. With the change in climate, comes the delight of horse flies, which can take a chunk of skin through clothing - leaving an itchy bite most noticeable when trying to sleep.
The first leg over, we arrived into town to the full assault of the festive season, with christmas carols blarring across the town square. So we´re escaping to the wilderness - the panniers are heavily loaded with chirstmas delights, tinsel on our handle bars and red ribbons in our pigtails. We´ve brought foward the gluttony to this evening, as bannoffee pie and steak may not last 4 days in our panniers.
HAPPY XMAS to
all our friends and family. We´ll be thinking of you as the tinsel flutters in the breeze.
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Colin
non-member comment
Merry Christmas!!
Great to hear all about your adventures Pen. Brings back lots of happy memories and provides great inspiration to create many more! Looking forward to hearing lots more in due course, and to seeing loads more pictures. In the meantime, I hope all three of you have a wonderful festive season on your saddles! Cheers to you all! Colin