the gringo tour: November 2009

day 315 – km 20674

puerto bertrand / rio baker – lago chacabuco
73,12km 1431 alti meter
230km to go to villa o'higgins, so i have to check the ferry timetable and load up with food and cash for the next 3 days. just met coline & paul from belguim on their tandem. www.2roues4mollets.net

day 314 km 20601

lago general carrera - puerto bertrand / rio baker
86.30km 1494 alti meter
it rained all night but more or less stopped during the day.
some more cold west winds which brought even some snowflakes!?

day 313 – km 20515

villa cerro castillo - lago general carrera
108.77km 1376 alti meter
more rain and more west winds on these rolling hills.
p.s.
all the way gravel road but surprisingly good to bike.
camping options starting @ km 60 (the schoolbus) and then further down the road at the river. (murta camping 4.000.-!?)

day 312 – km 20406

coyhaique - villa cerra castillo
99.78km 1663 alti meter
it rained in the morning so i started late. the heavy west wind made me choose the northern route. it is a little longer but less km going west (i think) and it doesn't include a ferry ride.
p.s.
there is a campground @ km60 / 1275 altimeter

day 311 – day off

coyhaique – day off

trying to gather some informations about the further route (ferry timetables, road conditions…) and trying to fix bike cloth, backbag, trailer wheel…

do weight scales in gym´s show more, or less, then the correct weight? i ask that because it seems that i was somehow able to gain 5kg over the last 10month while cycling 20.000km!?

the very relaxing “living room” of our cabana.

day 310 – km 20301

villa manihuales – coyhaique

93,20km 1182 alti meter

i left the nice place of jorge and met lars just in time for 2nd breakfast. we cycled together to coyhaique and stay in a nice cabin with kitchen, TV and internet. tomorrow day off – repairing bike & cloth and checking the next stretch of the route (ferry timetables, road conditions…..)

day 309 – km 20208

villa amengual / lago las torres – villa manihuales

51,44km 421 alti meter

once again a very short riding day allthough the weather would have been nice (after the heavy rain all night). but i met jorge who offered me to stay at his gym. the plan was to reach coyhaique tomorrow, so instead of a half day tomorrow and a full day today, i do it the other way around and stay with my friendly host.

day 308 – km 20156

puyuguapi – villa amengual / lago las torres

98,77km 1624 alti meter

nice “jungle” mountain road, humble bees, humming birds, waterfalls and 50km on paved roads. nice but expensive camp at the lake (even the bike-rate is 2.500 pesos)

day 307 – km 20057

la junta – puyuguapi

47,14km 572 alti meter

some more deep gravel roads and again a early stopp as i met julien&vladana www.vladaju.fr so we camped together and exchanged some informations and thoughts.

day 306 – km 20010

villa santa lucia – la junta

72,37km 834 alti meter

some more rain today, but the rain stopped a couple times for a few minutes. enough to take the rain gear off, at least for a short time. the advantage of the rainy weather is, that the few cars that pass by don´t cover me in a cloud of dust all the time. ;-)

day 305 – km 19938

lago lonconao – villa santa lucia

65,23km 737 alti meter

some more rain in the valley of the hundret waterfalls. i spent 4h in a hosteria having breakfast and drying/warming up. villa santa lucia is more a settlement then a village. there are some really basic hospedajes – really basic!

day 304 – day off

lago lonconao – day off

7°C and heavy rain all night & day, so not many reasons to get out at all today…. some more indoor-camping.

day 303 – km 19873

trevelin – lago lonconao (chile)

65,71km 617 alti meter

i left late and stopped early – so only a half riding day, but nice. (as i stopped after the first raindrops) the border-crossing went better then the last one and even 10km of paved road to the next village. futaleufu even had a ATM, but i thought i can make it to coyhaique with the cash i had on me.

day 302 – day off

trevelin – day off

after the sand/gravel/rain…. time for some maintainance and some extrem-couching at the hostal. (welded front rack)

day 301 – km 19807

villa rivadavia – trevelin

93,01km 1196 alti meter

70km on gravel/sand. then rain limited slightly the scenic views!? so i enjoyed a hot shower in the hostel where i met martin&sabine a couple hours later again. ;-)

day 300 – km 19714

el bolson – villa rivadavina

100,10km 996 alti meter

nice ride trying to keep up with martin&sabine. 50km on gravel/sand/washboard, but really scenic! the list of broken things gets longer and longer!? this time it´s a 5month old front rack. i think i should start a “murphies list”. things that went wrong or died a unnatural cause on this tour. i am really curios whats next!? ;-)

it is still a little before season here so some campgrounds… have still closed and its a little dificult to find a campsite. (at least i found some parts with which i could a improvisation on my bike rack where i ended up doing “indoorcamping”)

day 299 – km 19614

san carlos de bariloche – el bolson

124,58km 1304 alti meter

some more lakes and snow topped mounatins. i stopped a watched some of the dirt-bikers doing their rounds on a practise track. arriving in el bolson i met martin&sabine on their tandem, so we met up later on in the same hostal.

day 298 – km 19489

lago baily willys – san carlos bariloche

104,66km 1094 alti meter

after 10km back on pavement. i didn´t spend much time in villa la angostura and bariloche as i am not a big fan of ski-resort-villages. (i think most of them look the same, no matter if you are in bariloche, st. moritz, banff, aspen,….)

day 297 – km 19384

san martin de los andes – lago baily willys

93,58km 1492 alti meter

nice ride on the 7 lakes route in the natinal parks lanin and huapi. first 50km on pavement then sand/gravel. (the free campgrounds are at km50, km60 and km96 starting in san martin)

day 296 – km 19290

intersection chiqulihun (argentina) – san martin de los andes

86km 350 alti meter

again a nice ride. less trees…. but more animals (birds, beaver, rabbits….) really nice surprise as i met swen&kat again along the road!

one of the memorials pilled with plastic bottels!?

day 295 – km 19204

pucon – intersection chiqulihun (argentina)

101,36km 1362 alti meter

amazing scenery along the national park with nice view of the vulcano lanin. i was able to cycle as i had a small gear again, which is nesessary on 15% gravel roads! (30km on chile side, 10km on argentina side) the people in argentina are quite artistic in making fenses. (once again i found a nice spot to get out of the wind and camp indoor)

day 294 – day off

pucon – day off

i thought about continuing towards argentina today, but got hold up by some techn. problems of my bike….

day 293 – day off

pucon – day off

i checked the weatherforcast yesterday and belife it or not – they were right!? it is raining more or less all day (just like the last 3 weeks). so the first part of my “plan” worked out good (trying to hide it out). now it has be dry tomorrow when i get back on the bike…

day 292 – km 19101

villarica – pucun

26km

a short morning ride. just enough to get soaking wet and cold. i tought about riding to one of the termales in the area camp there and do some hiking in the national parc tomorrow, but in this weather it doesn´t make much sense. thick rainclouds all around, so can barly see the lake and only imagen the volcano behind it. at least that way i´ll get the chance to update the blog. ;-)

day 291 – km 19075

temuco – villarica

95,92km 484 alti meter

only a half day of riding as i had to go back to the bike shop in which we tried to fix my bike yesterday. i kind of felt sorry, as i caused so much work to the people at the bike shop, but at the end we could not solve the problem as it turned out to be the inside of the hub. so i continued cycling (with only 2 gears!?) thinking about that even the most solid equipment seems to have a limited lifespan!? no surprise that things will brake, get holes, wear out…. but still doesn´t lift your spirit if a lot stuff happens in a short period of time. so i thought about renaming the tour to “the downgrade tour” ;-) the long list of broken tent poles, holes in cooking pots, broken zippers, holes in bags, …. some examples: i had to downgrade from a ceramic coated rim to a “whatever fits in my bike”-version, from hydraulic brakes down to v-brakes, …. i just hope that there is no continues line! otherwise i might be soon on a single-speed steel frame bike or walking. ;-) but as we know. humor is: if you laugh about it anyway.

day 290 – km 18979

rio malleco – temuco

126,97km 711 alti meter

first i thought i stay on side roads, but then the perspective of headwinds and rolling hills made me change and get on the highway. nice scenic stretch, wide shoulder, less hills…. the traffic on the side roads with narrow shoulder are almost the same speed as on the highway so it was surprisingly enjoyable biking!? that way i saw some really impressive horsebackriding-skills of a gaucho. (exchanging my inner tube “eating” schwalbe marathon tour plus tire)

day 289 – km 18852

rio cluenco – rio malleco

80,85km 516 alti meter

rain, winds, flat tires and rolling hills, but i met some nice/interesting people like david from canada on his bike tour from ushuaia to santiago and the teacher who has to hitch-hike to work everyday as there are no buses to that school…

day 288 – km 18771

rafael – rio cluenco

123,82km 903 alti meter

the day started with lots of dew, 2°C and a flat tire, so not exactly the way i like mornings, but the day improved with a nice ride along the river bio bio.