Day 97 - 102. Torres del Paine, just visit

Day 97 Tapi Aike. We're still the lucky weather edition of the Andes trail, mostly!

161km with 1393m of climbing. Well, it was shortened to roughly 130km to find a suitable camping spot.

We've been called the lucky weather edition of the Andes trail rides given that we've had so much fair weather. This day wasn't so lucky. In this area of Patagonia, the wind almost always comes from the west. Riding out of El Calafate to Tapi Aike, we were riding east, so should be tail wind. No. Head wind. Very rare easterly wind. Bugger.

We have a cold start with a temperature of 6C, which feels worse thanks to the wind. Leaving the Argentino Lake behind, back amongst the pampas. There was also a decent climb going up 600m in one hit, something we haven't seen for some time now.

The ride was exhausting and the required constant effort, so at lunch after 73km I declared my day's ride was done. Not only was I about to hit the wall, my back was tightening up.

The campsite was in a grassy valley. Quite unexpected as the surrounding area doesn't have the lush green grass that we had the luxury to put our tents on.

Day 98 Cerro Castillo. Any misfortune becomes an adventure if it ends well

92km with 349m of climbing.

Packing our tents up we were flicking the frost off, when we set off it was perhaps 4 degrees with a headwind again, so it felt much colder.

So once again it was slow going for myself pushing into the wind. Some people either chose not to start at all, or got into the truck after a few km due to the wind and cold.

I spent most of my ride between 8-13km/h. Painfully slow. Go any faster however and the wind pushes back harder, and my back tightens. So a long slow slog it is.

After 35km and just over 3 hours the our dirt road ended, and we joined onto paved road. I'd ridden just over 50km, when Didier drove back from lunch to see where I was given I was late compared to everyone else. He did a U turn and drove on the road's shoulder so he could speak with me. I agreed to ride in the truck to lunch, but when he tried to drive the truck forward to get to a more flat spot to load my bike, all the wheels just spun and dug themselves into the soft clay beneath the gravel. These trucks have 4WD with differential locks, so this sort of thing usually doesn't happen. Furthermore, the truck being on the side of the road that curves down to a drainage gulley, was now tipped on a dangerous angle. This was then the first time I've ever heard Didier swear. We set about trying to dig behind the wheels so that they could have a gentle gradient to climb back out of the holes they'd dug for themselves, until Didier also noticed the truck was sitting on its chassis and axles. Big problem. He tried jacking the truck up to put rocks under the wheels, but the jack sank into the clay as well. Thankfully another truck driver that was passing by noticed our predicament, hooked a chain between the 2 trucks and pulled Didier's truck out. That was a huge relief. Any misfortune becomes an adventure if it ends well.

Day 99 NP Torres del Paine. This place is one for your bucket list

83km with 839m of climbing.

My back despite the exercises I've been doing was giving me grief. So I was off the bike for the day. These are the times I wish I was doing a self supported ride. If that was the case, if I can't ride, I rest until I can and so don't miss pieces of the achievement that is riding the distance between the equator and Ushuaia. With a group, the progress continues regardless. On the other side of the coin however, we don't have to carry all our luggage or worry about the regular hunt for water that the self supported riders we encounter along the way have to do.

The ride itself looked like fun. It was unpaved, and once in the National Park, the road was like a roller coaster with short steep climbs and drops.

The scenery though. Wow. Stunning. I want to visit there again.

Thankfully we also had a rest day camping in the park....

So on the way in we stopped and admired

We hiked

That's the Torres del Paine in the background

We admired some more

We also relaxed. 

One of the best beers I've ever tasted. They put the local Calafate berry into this beer.

Seriously. Visit this place. The scenery was so stunning it felt ridiculous. Even the wildlife was out to play. We saw a cougar, many guanucos, a fox or 2 and some many cheeky varieties of birds. One that looks like a kiwi, to another type who use trees like a race track going round and round and somehow not smashing into something. There was a condor nest right near our campsite.

A side note about the wind going through the National Park. We received news that 4 days after we went through, that 2 buses were pushed over by what was estimated as a 200km/h gust of wind. There were some injuries, and 1 person had a foot amputated. Something to think about, as from our campsite within the park, we caught a minibus (smaller than the ones pushed over) to the beginning of the trail for our hike. When we were going through, the wind made even the smaller lakes have white capped waves that were curling over like proper surf, and mist being thrown off.

Day 100 Puerto Natales

99km with 1246m of climbing.

Another cold start, rain too, and the wind was still up from the previous afternoon during our rest day. Thankfully it was a tailwind. My jealousy of missing the ride into the National Park lessened a little, as I got to ride the park's roller coaster unpaved roads.

The ride wasn't only fun, but once again Patagonian Chile continues to impress even with the cold rainy weather. There was one part I so wish I could take a photo that showed what we could see. There was a large lake to the side of the road, surrounded by mountains and the clouds thinned the further away we looked. So the lake's water started as a dark grey and then continually became lighter until it was almost white on the horizon.

Despite having fun on the bike and feeling like I was a big kid, I still had to stop for the day at lunch due to the tightening in my back.

Tamsin and myself chilling out at the cave where Milodon remains were found

Day 101 Villa Tehuelches

148km with 1024m of climbing.

The wind was still going strong. So we'd barely left town and where I once saw 2 riders in front of me, a gust caused Tamsin to be blown off the road and flip her bike, and recently arrived Ben to practice his mountain bike skills bouncing over the rough ground on the way to a fence away from the road. Tamsin was a little shaken, but continued on for another 50km before her neck and knee started to stiffen up.

Once away from the turbulent wind caused by the surrounding hills, the wind cleaned up to being a tailwind almost all the way to lunch which was at 63km, so riding at 40km/h was very easy.

I had to once again rest the afternoon rather than ride. Turned out I was soon joined in the truck by quite a few people. After lunch the road turned, and so the once friendly tailwaind became a dangerous cross wind. So people were getting worried that they would be blown across the road into the path of a truck or car.

Day 102 Punta Arenas

102km and 588m of climbing.

I was unable to ride again, so for me the day was filled with seeing people on their bikes leaning their bikes a LONG way over to the side fighting the wind for the whole trip. Some people also chose to stop part way into the day due to it being dangerous.

The wind is a constant factor here, they have what is known as "flag trees" as they grow tipped over pointing to the east due to the strong westerly winds.