Carretera Austral: Puyuhuapi to Coihaique

You´ll be relieved like us that the heatwave has passed and we are back to typical southern Chilean conditions i.e. drizzle, as evident from the bike shop shown that we visited this afternoon (Oxford is never far away see...) The week down from Puyuhuapi had further grand, open scenery and continuing ripio dirt roads that are giving the bikes, and us, a good workout. Interestingly the rain en route was our first on the road for 54 days; like the UK at present? We called by the beautiful, and dramatic, huge hanging glacier Ventisquero Colgante, although Liz was ambushed by a little bug that tried to chew her thumb! We are now in the metropolis, by local standards, of Coihaique stocking up on Nutella and whisky before the southern, and more remote, leg of this road. And if you would like to read more bike blog banter, here is the link to one smarter and wittier than ours. It is by a UK trio doing a longer, reverse, version of our route with some "experiences" of note already (and with an uncannily similar title): http://www.cyclediaries.com/

As we will next be in remote lands for two weeks or so, the next post may not be until March.

Heatwave on the Carretera Austral

We are beginning to wonder whether we are in the right hemisphere - it seems to be getting hotter and hotter as we head further south, which is great for the views but makes the cycling a hot and dusty experience. Frequent immersion in glacial streams seems the most effective way of cooling down! As expected, the road is tough going with a very variable surface, a couple of ferries across the fjords, and some steep climbs (meaning we can only average about 9km per hour) but the scenery more than makes up for the hard work - stunning lakes, rivers, glaciers and waterfalls with absolutely nothing and nobody on the long stretches between villages on the way. We are currently in Puyuhuapi, a village of 500 inhabitants founded by German settlers, with limited resources but more good cakes. And we´re slowly but surely making our way towards Coihayque, the only town of any size on the whole route, plus we have a day-trip cruise booked to visit the Laguna San Rafael glacier on the way.
Those of you who have read Bill`s comment on the previous entry, see the last photo above as proof that the whole trip isn´t a hoax and we aren´t blogging from Oxfordshire ...!