A good break in Coyhaique and on to the end of the Austral...

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Villa O´Higgins is the start of the Carretera Austal, a gravel road that winds its way 1200 km up the mountains of Southern Chile. It is also where I started riding again properly after a very frustrating 3 weeks off the bike.

Myself and Blenka stocked up with the obligatory mountain of bread needed for a few days riding, said goodbye to Jay ( who was getting a bus to Coyhaique because of his knee) and set off into the miserable weather. It wasnt long until we had experienced another typical perculiarity of the Pategonian weather - the fact that you can get all four seasons in one day ( or the "crowded house effect" ). Within minutes we had gone from waterproofs to tshirt and shorts and couldnt stop saying how great the weather was. A couple of hours later however we were back to freezing cold rain and wind in our faces and were cowering in the trees by the side of the road shivering and generally being quite depressed!

What we did really notice on this leg of the trip is how much the weather and terrain affects our mood, we feel like manic drepressives going from incredibly high highs to horrible lows a few times a day as the weather and terrain continually keep switching from deep gravel up hills, with the driving rain soaking us through, to adrenaline pumping downhills in the sun, riding through spectaular valleys and mountains.

It was a 230km, four day ride to Cochrane, the first town of any size (3000 population) on the Austral. This took us through possibly the toughest leg of the Austral where the road is realy bad gravel (a combination of sand, gravel, pebbles, ruts and potholes and the hills seem to go straight up the hillsides rather than attempting to go along any valleys! There were also some incredible sights and scenes along the way here to provide the "highs", in fact the most amazing scenery I think I have seen so far since we have been in South America. We also had some interesting camping along here, one night staying at a campsite in the middle of nowhere that was all a bit "Deliverance", with an old guy that wanted to show Blenka his colection of "arty" magazines. We made a quick exit that morning - I didnt want to hear any piggies squeeling!

We had a day off in Cocherane, theres not much in the town itself, but it was still pretty good to see a bit of civilization for a couple of days. We also bumped into Walter, an old Austrian hitch hiker (who loves his pisco and never seems to eat) for the third time here (after Puerto Natales and El Chalten).

The journey from Cocherane was another 6 days to Coyhaique, the largest town on the Austral where we would spend New Years Eve. We set off with four days food which included 1.2kg pasta, 500g instant potato, 8 packets of assorted powdered soups and suaces, 8 oranges, 4 apples, 1.5kg porrage oats, 1kg jam, 8 chocolate bars, and 56 bread rolls (which were gone in 3 days). We left Cochrane on Christmas Eve, meaning we would be riding on Christmas day. Myself and Blenk had decided we would just ignore the fact it was Christmas day instead of trying to celebrate, and have a big celebration in Coyhaique instead. As it turned out Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were both really nice sunny days, the first couple of good days since Villa O Higgins, and we even found a bakery open on Christmas day so we treated ourselves to a Christmas Empanada (South American pasty). Bizarrely we also saw turkeys wandering about on Chrismas Eve and Christmas day, a sight we havnt seen before or since. Christmas dinner that night consisted of a mighty feast of instant potato, tinned mackeral and pepper sauce, our finest trail dinner to date We went to bed that night feeling suitibly stuffed, as you should be on Christmas Day

The remaing days riding were the usual mix of weather and hills. About 150 km from Coyhaique we hit a good patch that consisted of a 20km downhill and then 20km of tailwinds, the unexpected boost in distance that day made us decided to try and reach Coyhaique a day early ( we really wanted a shower at this point! ) but this would mean we´d have a 100km day to ride. Seeing as this was all on a rare stretch of paved road, and encouraged by a Dutch guy who had done it going the other way we though it was worth trying.

The final day started with a nice 5km downhill along the most amzing valley I have seen so far ( it says something about the Austral that I seem to think this every other vally we go through, but then reached the start of a 6 km climb switching back and forth up the side of a mountain to 1120m, our highest altitude yet (for a comparison Snowdon is 1085m). The climb actually wasnt nearly as bad as we had expected it to be, the thought of the impending downhill always seems to motivate you enough to get up the up hill. However, at the very peak of the pass we turned a corner into some of the worst weather we have seen. I had been in my Tshirt and shorts so was already soaked by the time I had my waterproofs on. we then had icy head winds for the downhill we had been waiting for making us completely freezing within minutes. I was on quite a low at this point and suggested we seek shelter in a hut was passed to dry off and warm up a bit. I was very miserable, very very miserable. Im not sure i´ve ever been so cold in my life as i was going down that hill (well thats what I though at the time, not being able to feel my fingers, and Blenka knows, I really didnt want to get out of that shelter! But we managed to warm up with some dry clothes and pressed on to the next vally where the weather was much better.

We went on for the rest of the day making good progress until about 60km where we hit a strong headwind (people going the other way never tell you about their tailwinds. These last 40km were tough, I think it was a combination of not eating enough, the tough climbs and weather earlier and the extra distance we did that day, but by 80km both me and Blenka were absolutely shattered. We had nothing left, the only thing keeping us going was the fact that we had come so far and a hostal and shower were now only 20 km away ( and someone had told us the last 20km were mostly downhill, although this was the same person who didnt say the last 40km were into strong headwinds.

After 104km and 9 hours in the saddle, my longest day so far by a long way, we rolled up to the hostal in Coyhaique where jamie had been staying. Im not sure ive ever been to pleased to get somewhere!

We had heard a lot about the Villa O'Higgins crossing. Many spoke about it as the most exciting and pioneering way to make it onto the Austral. For us it was an exciting prospect - the only problem was no one seemed to have any real information about the best way to go about it. This blog will be part of our story as well as a no bull reference to crossing the stretch of land between El Chalten and the start of the Carretera Austral at Villa O'Higgins with a bicycle.

The first part of the journey is a 37km stretch of Ripio, the road is for the most part flat (by South American standards) - you get the feeling that you are finally in "Carretera Country" For the first time in our journey, lush greenery and cascading water surrounds the road and mountain peaks are evident on both sides. If the wind stays down then it looks like a very very pleasant road for riding...

Of course this part of the journey went differently for me...... having a damaged knee I attempted to procure some form of bus transportation to Lago del Desierto..... all the bus companies in town told me that while they did run services to Lago Desierto they could not take bikes. I was staring down the barrel of a long (and painful) walk. I was speaking to a guy who ran an internet cafe and he offered to phone around a few people he knew..... After a couple of phone calls he told me that I'd be able to get a bus from a Hostel about 15km down the road towards the lake. I was pretty happy to hear this..... a 15km walk is better than a 37km one after all. I decided i'd go for that.

Of course things don't always go to plan...... I had planned to spend about four hours walking - this is a nice slow strolling pace - which was all I was really capable of with my knee in the state it was..... I made it to the Hostel in pretty good time, with a very sore knee, I thought my day was probably over.... As it turned out I was wrong..... I get into the hostel and start having a chat with the Bossman there - I mention a bus service and he gives me this grimace that makes me a little worried then he starts talking - this confirmed my worries. Apparently there is a bus service that runs from there but only when he phoned up the companies (that i'd already been turned away by) and booked them specially to stop at his place..... I could tell by the look on his face that he was pretty gutted that this was happening to me - especially after I gave him my massive sob story..... I made my way out of his place pretty gutted - I thought I'd have to walk the rest of the way........

Luckily this did not happen - a kind hearted Gaucho picked me up from the end of the hostel's drive way and dropped me about ten Km's short of Lago del Desierto. This was ok - I only ended up having to walk 25km in total.

There are two camp sites by Lago Desierto - the first one you come to is owned by the state - and we're really not sure what the deal was..... but we camped there and seen as everything was locked up - apart from the toilet, we camped for free. The second camp site is a rip-off they charge between 10-15 Pesos for a night - all he had was hot showers. People would be best advised to stay clear - although that depends what the deal is with the "free" campsite when you arrive.

The boat for Lago Desierto is 35pesos per person although it looked like it was poised to increase in price to 60pesos at any moment. It's possible to walk - but it's a pretty arduous route along a footpath - that will probably not be maintained now that the boat service is running more regularly.

It was quite a pleasant crossing and it was nice for all of us to make a few K's northwards without having to put any effort in.....

The crossing lasted about forty five minutes and we arrived at the Argentine border post and were once again stamped out of the country. There is no road from the border post to the Chilean side..... there is only a 6km long track that is muddy and narrow and at times very steep - not ideal conditions for portaging a bicycle. It is possible however - and while it was very very difficult; there were stretches where the path seemed to disappear, consumed by bog or the undergrowth. It was possible. I popped a couple of painkillers before starting this stretch and we yomped on. We ended up doing the 6km in about four hours - which is pretty good going considering how rough the terrain was. We arrived at the border signs took the obligatory photo's and were able to mount up again and ride the final 15km to Candelario Mancillo, from where we would catch our boat to Villa O'Higgins.

The 15km stretch of road is pretty terrible - there being no real reason to keep it maintained. We therefore had to contend with sections that had been almost washed out by snow melt or heavy rainfall and most interestingly a section where a bridge crossing a river had been washed away. We were lucky because the river wasn't too deep or too wide - only coming up to about our knees. The end of the road is all downhill - about 5km. It would have been gloriously fun if it wasn't for a few trifling matters: First, the condition of the road at this point was horrific. Second, it was starting to lash down with rain and finally, the left hand side of the road was bordered by a steep drop off of at least 40m into a steep ravine. This did not make for a rapid descent - by the time I'd reached the bottom the rear brake of my bike had ceased functioning most of the pad being on the inside of my rim.......

We crossed back into Chile - ushered back in by Carabineros. From the border post it was another Km to our campsite - on a hillside above where the boat would come in. It was dirt cheap - 1000pesos a night per person, but very very basic. It was pretty much a field - with a nice view though.

We were expecting the boat the next day - this did not happen. Apparently rough weather stopped the boat from coming across - this seemed a little doubtful to us. We were of the opinion that a commercial decision had been taken not to run the boat while they waited for more people to turn up - this was pretty much confirmed in our minds when a large group of Spaniards turned up that evening having already paid for their tickets in advance. The next day we heard that the boat was coming and at 5pm we were all loaded into the boat and on our way to Villa O'Higgins. The crossing costs 35USD or 17,500Pesos. It takes about 4.5hours and it can get bumpy.

We arrived in Villa O'Higgins quite late and found lodgement in a campsite called El Mosco. It had been a savage couple of days and everyone was feeling bruised, battered and hungry - we had finally made it though... to the Carretera Austral.

Thank you's all round

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