After Rich had made the difficult decision to turn back to Rio Grande, J and I bade him an emotional farewell and began our long day to San Sebastian. We felt terrible for him as obviously we all want to pedal every inch of the way, but we all knew he had to get some good rest in and this was the best way. Initially we were planning on this leg taking two days, but we felt we could get there in one if we got our skates on. We did our best to push the pace on, but it was really tough, as we were battered all day by strong crosswinds. The strong gusts, as well as the air disturbance from passing lorries, meant that we were constantly being pushed off the tarmac and onto the gravel of the hard shoulder. The concentration of trying to keep the bike straight and on the road was, if anything, more exhausting than the pedalling!! The landscape had also become far less interesting since Tolhuin - flat and almost featureless all around - and the roads were long, straight and boring. Morale was very low all afternoon, but we were happy to roll into San Sebastian (Argentine) about 6pm at the end of a very tough 65km day.
San Sebastian was not what we’d been expecting at all. We were told there were places to stay, shops, internet and all the usual amenities of a town. But it wasn’t a town at all. There was a shop, a place to stay and nothing else. Just the border point. But we really didn’t care one bit. We got our exit stamp from Argentina, bought some food to last the next three days on the road and then passed out, exhausted, in the waiting room at the border.
A poor night´s sleep was broken at 3am when we got up and hit the road again- It would be poor gravel roads for the next two days now. It was just getting light as we finished the 16km ride to the Chilean Border, where we had to wake the guards up for all the usual border checks and passport-stamping. We weren’t allowed to bring any fruit into the country, so there was a brief pause while J munched down his 2 oranges and an apple, and then we were officially in Chile!!
By mid-afternoon we’d covered a good 60km into very stiff winds, but we were feeling good still so made the decision to try and cover the remaining 100km in two days, in order to catch the Sunday night ferry to the mainland from Porvenir. We tried to push on that afternoon but the winds picked up as we neared the Magellan Straits and when they got so strong we couldn’t even stand we decided to call it a day! We pitched up in a ditch by the roadside and slept like babies. Covering 90km the following day looked extremely unlikely.
We were upset to find that getting up at 2am the following morning didn´t help us miss the wind at all, but we pushed on in the dark for a couple of hours anyway. By mid-morning the wind was ferocious, but by midday it was unbelievable. ´Sitting it out’ wasn’t an option as it was not going to improve (and there was no shelter
so we were forced off the bikes and had to push the bikes for a few kilometres. Meeting a couple of German cyclists who were hurtling down the road in the opposite direction did little to lift our mood!
But we rounded the headland and in the relatively sheltered hills the wind died down a little. Although by now we only had 40km to cover in 4hours, the 5pm ferry seemed impossible. We decided to push on to Porvenir that night anyway, as we wanted to be out of the wind and to get a proper night’s sleep. In the end though, we only ended up missing the boat by an hour and felt incredibly proud of our 89km day.
We’d have to wait in Porvenir for the next ferry on Tuesday, which was a shame, as we wanted to catch up with Rich as soon as we could. But we made the best of our rest day: We did a lot of sleeping and a good bit of eating and generally rested our achey bodies. Without a doubt, the road from San Sebastian to Porvenir was the hardest two days of our lives... but we're expecting worse to come!
We’ve been in Punta Arenas since Tuesday, giving Rich’s knee some rest, sorting out the bikes and poring over maps and guidebooks, looking for the best routes north to the Carretera Austral. All’s well and we’ll post again when we have some plans!
San Sebastian was not what we’d been expecting at all. We were told there were places to stay, shops, internet and all the usual amenities of a town. But it wasn’t a town at all. There was a shop, a place to stay and nothing else. Just the border point. But we really didn’t care one bit. We got our exit stamp from Argentina, bought some food to last the next three days on the road and then passed out, exhausted, in the waiting room at the border.
A poor night´s sleep was broken at 3am when we got up and hit the road again- It would be poor gravel roads for the next two days now. It was just getting light as we finished the 16km ride to the Chilean Border, where we had to wake the guards up for all the usual border checks and passport-stamping. We weren’t allowed to bring any fruit into the country, so there was a brief pause while J munched down his 2 oranges and an apple, and then we were officially in Chile!!
By mid-afternoon we’d covered a good 60km into very stiff winds, but we were feeling good still so made the decision to try and cover the remaining 100km in two days, in order to catch the Sunday night ferry to the mainland from Porvenir. We tried to push on that afternoon but the winds picked up as we neared the Magellan Straits and when they got so strong we couldn’t even stand we decided to call it a day! We pitched up in a ditch by the roadside and slept like babies. Covering 90km the following day looked extremely unlikely.
We were upset to find that getting up at 2am the following morning didn´t help us miss the wind at all, but we pushed on in the dark for a couple of hours anyway. By mid-morning the wind was ferocious, but by midday it was unbelievable. ´Sitting it out’ wasn’t an option as it was not going to improve (and there was no shelter
so we were forced off the bikes and had to push the bikes for a few kilometres. Meeting a couple of German cyclists who were hurtling down the road in the opposite direction did little to lift our mood!But we rounded the headland and in the relatively sheltered hills the wind died down a little. Although by now we only had 40km to cover in 4hours, the 5pm ferry seemed impossible. We decided to push on to Porvenir that night anyway, as we wanted to be out of the wind and to get a proper night’s sleep. In the end though, we only ended up missing the boat by an hour and felt incredibly proud of our 89km day.
We’d have to wait in Porvenir for the next ferry on Tuesday, which was a shame, as we wanted to catch up with Rich as soon as we could. But we made the best of our rest day: We did a lot of sleeping and a good bit of eating and generally rested our achey bodies. Without a doubt, the road from San Sebastian to Porvenir was the hardest two days of our lives... but we're expecting worse to come!
We’ve been in Punta Arenas since Tuesday, giving Rich’s knee some rest, sorting out the bikes and poring over maps and guidebooks, looking for the best routes north to the Carretera Austral. All’s well and we’ll post again when we have some plans!
