15 hours flying time from Heathrow. \240Bikes in their plastic bags and panniers in their polypropylene tartan bags all arrived intact.

Inflight decision to try and get a bus directly from the airport to Valparaíso worked out perfectly, taking us right out of the fankle of motorways around Santiago.

Walked out of the bus station and into Hostal Fiorenttina (5 person-journeys to get everything there), and up 50+ steps in a glorious old building.

Cheap Chifa across the road. \240Welcome shower, and sleep in the horizontal!

Supermarket shopping to collect the basics. \240Fascinating, as ever. \240Horrible reminder that Chile doesn’t do decent coffee - if you find ground coffee at all, it’ll be hidden on the bottom shelf.

Bikes reassembled and in order. Too lazy to carry them down and back again to test them - tomorrow will be fine 😉

Another day wandering the streets and outlooks of the city.

Monstrously steep hill out of Tunquén, tightly fenced with an extensive scattering of private dwellings all the way up. \240Finally got beyond this bit, and found a section of fence with two of the 5 lines of barbed wire only hooked on - close inspection required! \240Great area with pines and eucalyptus, plenty of camp spots, only recent occupants seemed to be equine. \240The BMX ramps hadn’t been used in a while.

Steep run down to the coast again, then the rest of the day roughly following the coast through miles of deserted condos then varying degrees of development. \240

First attempt at accommodation was a recommended place in Cartagena - when we found it, not just exactly where Mr Google insisted it was, it was full.

On to San Antonio, and we found this wee place, with fabulous views over city and ocean.

A great start and a lovely run today through farms and forests. \240Plenty of ups and downs, but not as vicious as the last couple of days.

Puncture as we crossed the Rio Rapel, which turned out to be a cut from the rim tape, which hadn’t bedded down properly. \240New one!

Fab lunch on a patio overlooking the river and the campground opposite - and we were sold. \240Lovely day, perfect spot - why not?

Only 51.5km and 646m. \240But hell, it’s Sunday.

First really full-on day 85km and 1100m. \24015km downhill to the coast at the end of the day.

Nice ride through agriculture, including huge monoculture of almond trees. \240Fine pasta lunch at La Garzas Sur, then a good old climb over - from 225m to almost 600m in 10km. Passed through a lot of forestry, sawmills. \240Much of this stretch was unfenced (gasp!) - just when we didn’t need to camp.

Hostal Bellymar recommended on iOverlander; a bit (quite a bit!) scruffy, but friendly enough.

Very varied day! From the coast, through rolling hills and intensive forestry into a wide, flat valley of all sorts of fruit, olives, grains. \2408km diversion into Lolol and out again, searching for accommodation - all closed. \240Finally ended up in this lovely wee place - we have a little cabin, with a patio and a shower. \240It’s the first place this trip where we were pretty sure we weren’t going to catch anything if we touched the walls of the shower....

Only 60 odd km today, and about 500m; found a room at 3pm 😁

Forests, dunes and salt marshes; beautiful day, beautiful ride.

A wonderful rest day, spent doing nothing more than reading, and occasionally eating.

Conap Forest Service campground - turns out a bit expensive when you have to pay 5000 admission each as well as 3000 each to camp! \240Didn’t manage a photo of this place, but a lot like Buesher State Park in Texas. \240Except that the lightbulbs were gone, and the water didn’t seem to be reaching the loos.

Very early awakening at 12:45am when a huge siren sounded. \240Tsunami warning? \240It seemed to go on for ages, but eventually faded to the sound of sirens departing. \240Fumble for ‘phone, and determine that at 76m we’re probably above any tsunami. \240That, and the park ranger would come and warn us - wouldn’t she? \240When we left town, the Bomberos were still out.

Early morning decision to stay here until Boxing Day. \240Think there’s only one other guest! \240But the room is bright and has a great view - and is cheap, at 20,000 per night. \240

More peaceful than last night, with just a few mosquitos making a pain of themselves.

Supermarket trip, recharge ‘phone, then a lovely beach walk. \240Huge waves, sea lion colony, and vultures feeding on a Dead Sea lion.

Rather too many chips for lunch!

Christmas Day! \240Short ride to the Iglesia de Piedra, a huge volcanic batholith or plug, hollowed out in places to leave huge caverns. \240Holiday today, so lots more folk on the beach.

Chris poorly with a nasty cold and fever. \240Another day hate to let it run its course. \240

550m climb to start the day, then a rolling ride through extensive pine forests. \240Plenty of logging trucks, plenty of sawmills. \240Eventually down to the wide Itata river and Coelemu. \240Tiny room, but clean and cool.

Ok, so 39km and 700m. \240Chris poorly, struggling with a bug, so \240this was far enough. \240We found this place quite by accident, and it is just perfect. \240We’re in a big, bright room on the roof, and the bikes are securely lodged under the stairs. It’s really lovely being in the heart of things, but way up above them.

Resting, Chris still dealing with a nasty cold 😰

63km 550m. \240What a wonderfully different run today - finally, a bit flatter, and once past Concepción, a beautiful open run along the Biobío river. \240Stopped here as the next place with anywhere to stay is another day’s ride. \240

Good shade, swimming pool, the usual very shabby toilet block.

At last! A reasonably ‘normal’ day’s cycling 91km, 870m. \240A river run, a few ups and downs, but without the punishing grades of the coast. \240A great run through much more open vistas. \240Managed to find a supermarket in Nacimiento (hilly!), and didn’t manage to do so well with dinner, which comprised a ‘completo’, a hot dog with tomato and palta 😳. \240Never mind, there are empanadas, wine, and fresh fruit 🍇.

We had a bit of company on the campground last night - about 4 different groups in to celebrate the new year. \240I’m afraid we bailed, exhausted, at nightfall. \240The noise from the river masked most of the partying, but we did wake to the cheers at midnight, followed by about half an hour of fireworks from the nearby town.

Today we decided to abandon the winding roads for a day or two, and head for Ruta 5. \240Lots more forests, and a big wind farm - accompanied by the necessary headwind. \240The couple of towns we passed were in lockdown for the holiday, and we couldn’t find anywhere to feed us until we got here. \240Thereupon, we decided that the afternoon would be worse than a regular Sunday, and bailed into here. \240The hot shower was a joy, and very much required!

65km, 500m

80km, 500m, 95% on Ruta 5.

Definitely easy riding, if a bit noisy. \240The road is not overloaded, the slip roads and cloverleaf junctions work. \240So different... \240Good going, cold headwinds all day, but a great meal at a Hosteria on the outskirts of town. \240Then up to the masts, and a most amazing hilltop campground with spectacular views over the cordillera of snowcapped volcanoes.

Another day on Ruta 5, and we are happy to leave it for a while. \24065km, 340m. \240

Temuco by-pass is just that - 25km of motorway bypassing the city. \240No junctions, no feeder roads, no gas stations. \240Very interesting - the feeder roads are all within the city, from the urban motorway.

Good lunch of cazuela at a roadside restaurant outside Freire. \240Great bread; bought extra to go.

Campground a little further on, open, but glorious isolation again. \240Busy seems to mean day-camping, weekends only 😳

Off the 5 today, but the 199 to Villarrica was very busy; the shoulder was fine, but a lot of fast traffic. \240Villarrica was ver busy, with reminders of Bariloche and Sedona; we went through very quickly 😉

A quiet and interesting ride today, around the lake to Coñaripe - visitor info and panaderia both excellent - then the back way to Panguipulli, now mostly paved. \240One steep, unpaved stretch which involved pushing!

Panguipulli less of a full-on tourist place, but still busy. \240Lakeside, with lovely church. \240Camping in earth-floor back garden!

65km, 800m

Quiet, windless day, through farmland and dairy country. \240Passed by several milk tankers, and found the creamery in Los Lagos. \240Landscape like the Trossachs, but with better roads. \240

Lunch in Los Lagos - Churrasco Italiano and frutilla juice. \240Steam day and Feria in Antilhue. \240Joined the families by the river to camp.

A very short ride to our couple of nights in Valdivia - 32km, 261m. \240Rain was forecast, so we decided to make the most of it with a nice room for a couple of nights. \240

Our hosts had already turned the water off in the baños this morning - a reminder, as if we needed one, that business was weekends only.

A quiet and pleasant ride into town, which wasn’t really that busy; only a couple of jousts, and we’d arrived. \240First choice full up, so this place was recommended on the next block.

The rain took a long time coming...

Rest Day!

Excellent breakfast (by Chilean standards), then an expedition to find the Botanic Garden. \240Mostly trees, and not enough labels, but interesting and very quiet. \240Then followed a very fine coffee from ‘Roasty’, and a further wander around Parque Saval and the Arboretum. \240Some of the trees here were labelled by the Forestry school, and the whole place was very peaceful and attractive. \240A vast picnic area couches that the place is heaving at weekends!

Our first attempt at a restaurant turned out to be a bar cum drinking den. \240A better choice across the road.

85km, 550m

Finally scored some maps from the Copec on the way out of Valdivia this morning. \240Interesting run through extensive marshland, then over the coastal range (about 250m at this point) and down to re-join Ruta 5. \240Bus shelters came in handy to dodge showers, and a Hosteria appeared at just the right time for lunch and shower avoidance. \240Works canteen again 😁

Rio Bueno has a pretty balneario, way down below the bridge, but not really suitable for tents. \240Ended up here in this rather smart establishment.

They’re digging the plaza up...

A few km on the 5 before (eventually) getting on the right road to Puerto Octay. \240All well until we were diverted off onto a dirt road. \240We assumed a bridge out, and reckoned that we’d be fed back on to the main road shortly. \24013km later... the bridge was indeed out, but right down at the point we rejoined the asphalt.

No restaurant until a very fine Parilla just outside Puerto Octay.

Camping Molino very pleasant; currently observing a huge family getting set up.

Weird scenery - bucolic green, regularly interrupted by perfectly conical, snow-capped volcanoes.

92km, 640m

A good and early start this morning, with a 300m climb up from the lake. \240Huge dairy herds, still in the company of the volcanoes. \240Last stretch on Ruta 5.

Casa Perla is more of a ‘hostel’, with a number of international guests, cosy garage for the bikes.

Walk into town for Chinese meal, past the start of the Carretera Austral. \240Wonderfully involved process to purchase a can of WD 40!

Weather forecast is pretty wet tomorrow, so another day here has been decided.

72km, 620m

Rest day - rain day. \240Good morning chatting with cyclists just arrived from the south, cleaning and repairing bikes. \240Now 5 bikes here...

Great ride today in lovely weather, on a deserted motorway. \240First ferry of this trip, a landing craft to Chiloé. \240Bridge under construction.

86km, 600m

Very rough start, road wise, with broken concrete and a very variable shoulder - as well as some pretty hefty ups and downs. \240Finally switched to decent tarmac and shoulder after lunch, at about 50km.

Final total, 73km, 850m. \240Very wooded, few long views. \240

Saw a Pudu deer grazing at the side of the road - they really are tiny!

Pause to wait for the supermarket to open on Castro, with breakfast at Nomads Hostal.

Yet another dog elicited an involuntary scream from me - starting to feel somewhat victimised ☹️

Rain started as forecast shortly before noon - our first wet ride of this journey. \240The one residencial that we reached at about 2pm was ‘todo occupado’, so we kept pedalling, and reached Quellón at about 5pm. \240Straight to the ticket office, and got booked in for tomorrow at noon.

This hotel was just a few doors down, and is lovely. \240Overlooking the ferry slip, bikes in the room with us ☺️

The total today eS bang on 100.00km. \240The climb? 1,470m.

Such a long riding day. \24050m to the ferry slip, then 1.5km to the campground. \240What a huge difference from the island to the mainland! \240

What a change! \240Suddenly right in amongst the mountains, and the paved road feels like our own personal cycle path. \240Gorgeous day.

Horrendous aftermath of landslides and flooding around Santa Lucia.

78km, 950m

Another fabulous day’s riding, views, weather, perfect.

Superb camping shelters here - we have our iwn, for the grand sum of 5,000 pesos per head - about £5.50

88km, 1,115m

85.5km, 1400m

Several stretches of ripio today, including the killer hill at the end. \240Fabulous views of peaks & glaciers.

A race to beat the rain today - early start (on the road at 6:30), cycling through yet more fabulous landscapes. \240Met Carlos and Christian, jugglers and unicyclists from Colombia, taking their skills on tour. \240First time we’ve seen a cyclist carrying a unicycle!

90km, 1200m, and we beat the rain - just!

The promised rain came to very little, leaving us feeling a bit twitchy ☹️. \240However, the blog is updated using the fast WiFi here, and we’ve had a prowl around town. \240And a rest, of course.

90km, 1200m.

60km, 1300m, howling TAILWIND!

Suddenly, everything was a much drier and the hills somewhat bare - much more like the Argentine side. \240Whole new roadside flora. \240Road returned to being quiet after the airport turn. \240So - busy from seaport (Aysén) to airport (Balmaceda). \240Glad to be off that stretch.

Beautiful National Park campground.

A lovely evening at the forest campground, and a fabulous run through mountains and forests, finally leaving Ruta 7 to head for the ferry at Puerto Ibáñez. \240Seriously wild wind as we came over and into town. \240No space on the ferry until Saturday. \240Cooling our heels.

Achieved a recharge for the chip, and eventually, the purchase of a ‘bolsa’. \240Connected again.

60km, 670m

Enforced rest day 😁

The rain overnight has brought the snow line right down - the forest campground of yesterday will be pretty chilly!

Finally escaped on the ferry to Chile Chico 😁. \240Now for that promised couple of nights in the lovely Campamento Ñandú.

Really enjoying the big space in this apartment/cabin. \240Baked scones in the tiny oven, walked the shore. \240Great day!

74km, 600m - and a border crossing. \240

Very quick and quiet crossing. \240Rolled into Los Antiguos and managed to extract some cash and buy a phone chip. \240And Argentine style bread! \240Big tailwind, so sailed into Perito Moreno - just managed to identify the La Anonima supermarket before we sailed past.

Then overwhelmed by Raul’s kindness and generosity, and non-stop, high speed chat.

Slept in the kitchen- a converted water tank.

170km, 800m. 😃

Fabulous day, hooligan tailwind, brilliant, uninhabited landscape. \240Many groups of guanacos, and a flock of about 30 ñandú.

Great small hotel in this dusty oil town - so typically Argentine, with bidet in the bathroom, and roll-down window shutters.

Much gentler winds this morning, and a very flat run - 85km and only about 50m of a climb. \240Many, many ‘nodding donkey’ oil pumps, initially lots of associated traffic.

Accosted first as we left the hotel by a man from BA who wanted to know what we were up to; then twice on the road. \240Second chap a member of the local cycling group; just as we checked in, another member came across and offered us a place to stay - as we’d already paid, we compromised with dinner.

Before that - ice cream!

Last night turned out to be a wonderful social time with the local cycling group. \240They arranged for us to stay with friends in Caleta Olivia tonight, but a short distance out of town on that road convinced us to abandon that plan. \240Bad road, bad wind, and bad traffic. \240Turned around and headed for Fitz Roy instead. \240Good road, good wind, no traffic. \240Brilliant ride.

Arrived at Hospedaje Mary just ahead of a thunderstorm (not forecast), and we are in a lovely apartment. \240If a little purple....

75km, 42m (!)

Rest day to await favourable wind. \240Mending, mechanics. \240Choripan lunch.

134 km, 500m

Started at first light to make the most of the light winds - successfully, as the first breezes appeared at around 60km. \240Actually very light breezes all day, so we did indeed pedal all the way!

Many guanacos and ñandú, and four strange creatures which sat on their haunches like hares, faces like foxes, bouncing rather than walking, rich brown with a pronounced white scat. \240Size of capybara. \240Very curious.

The YPF oasis on the pampa was very welcome. \240Perfectly good room for £24, including breakfast, bikes welcome inside. \240Apart from a single comedor 10km north of here, there were no services whatsoever on today’s route.

Bit of a south easterly this morning, which made us a bit slower than yesterday - but it turned after lunch, and the second half of the trip was much faster. \240Many more guanacos and ñandú.

No YPF hotel tonight, but Argentino is suitably quirky.

145km

Another fabulous day on the pampa. \240Hardly any wind at all, and full sunshine. \24039 degrees when we arrived in Pierdrabuena. \240Masses of ñandú again, and we ended up herding them several times as they ran along the fence ahead of us. \240Two cars stopped for us - the first a cyclist to chec we were OK and offer water. \240We came away with some Malvinas badges. \240The second, a lady handed us a bottle of cold water - this at the peak of the afternoon heat. \240When they left, we realised that they’d turned around and come back to give us this gift 💝

A rest day. \2405 days distance in 3 days, these auld yins needed a rest.

Pleasant little town, scattered with masses of cartoon characters - it styles itself ‘La Ciudad de Los Niños’. \240Plenty of mural sculpture too, and a shady Botanic Garden. \240Still incredibly hot - 39 degrees - it’s the subject of all conversations.

Scored a haircut, and a nice lunch in the stylish wee cafe adjacent to the lovely, old-fashioned bus terminal.

159.15 km, 745 m. \240I really think we can claim 100 miles; and this time, we certainly pedalled it all!

Long day. \240The hotel at 105km was patently closed, and the suggested bunkhouse at 112km turned out to be a working estancia with beds for visiting workers/tradesmen and the like. \240As it was only 2pm, we decided not to impose on their hospitality. \240And kept going. \240Plenty of daylight, good road, reasonable wind. Anything done now reduces tomorrow’s big distance. \240Headed 35 km to a likely looking river, to find a huge, wide, flat and windswept area, with nowhere to tuck in at all. \240Continued a little further, and eventually found a sweet spot - right beside the road, out of sight and out of the wind.

Benefitted from yesterday’s long day, and arrived in Rio Gallegos shortly after noon, after 80km and 250m.

On the way saw a hazmat convoy of 6 trucks each carrying a half container, accompanied be the escort, the ACA mechanic, an ambulance, and a Hazmat response vehicle. \240Who knows? \240Guess I could have noted the hazmat numbers on the vehicles 😜

25km of lit dual carriageway into town, complete with paved shoulders - what a joy! \240

82km, 450m

The wind had already started when we got up a 5, so after our breakfast and the hotel breakfast, we hit the draughty road. \240Head and side for 40km, then the road turns slightly south, giving a bit of relief to the border. \240Several stops to eat the fresh stuff before we got there. \240Swift processing, then out again.. slight rain, strong and cold side wind. \240Then we found this place a few km down the road - made just for folk like us. \240Visit from the Carabineros shortly after we moved in - do we’re on the radar!

A somewhat abortive visit into Villa Punta Delgada for supplies - bad, bad roads, dug up plaza, mini market closed until 10:00 ( it was 8:30), so we returned to the main road to battle with the wind before sailing the last 16km to the ferry. \240Straits of Magellan. \240Side wind pretty exhausting. \240Explored another roadside Refugio, not as posh as last night, but there.

Nice cabaña tonight and tomorrow to sit out the promised southerly.

84 km, 300m

Rest day - avoid full-on southerly. \240Much reading and writing, and eating.

Still here - still a howler of a southwesterly. \240There are worse places to spend downtime!

12km round trip to the supermarket in town.

112km,

Not long before we met the trees this morning, and their presence made the wind a whole lot more bearable. \240Started out as scrawny, wind-blasted specimens, and eventually became a proper forest of Southern Beech. \240Everything covered in Spanish Moss type lichens. \240Many meandering streams and rivers, and we saw more than one beaver dam.

Lovely hostel tonight, cosy and full of art.

So, we made it!

A tougher day today with plenty of climbing (including the Paso de Garabaldi), and a little bit of wind too. \240And rain ☔️, last 40km, including the long ride through town. \240However, we have a lovely apartment while we figure our next move.

Achieved a bus ticket for tomorrow morning to Punta Arenas; booked a room for a couple of nights. \240Meanwhile, enjoying the town, the apartment, and coffee!

1 day on the bus to reprise 4 days riding, to Punta Arenas on our way to Puerto Natales.

Early start, really draughty bus station to pack up the bikes, but interesting to reverse the route - effortlessly!

Quiet Sunday walk this morning, with a wander along the shore and up to a mirador. \240Explored the municipal cemetery, with its classic architecture and incredibly clean and tidy tombs. \240Shiny windows are something you don’t normally see in these places.

Bus at the civilised hour of 10am. \240Gave us time to partake of the hostal’s ‘empty’ breakfast - Bimbo bread, laminated cheese & red jam; some kind of coco pops and semi skimmed milk, pretend orange juice and instant coffee. \240Hohum.

Very organised bus journey - 8000 pesos each, and 3000 pesos for each bike, no fuss at all.

Arrived just after 13:00 and finally found our hidden Hostal. \240Another work in progress, but we have a huge room with bathroom, a small area of grass outside, and we are able to come and go without ringing bells.

Found the ferry office and paid for our ‘cruise’. \240Sprung some cash and paid for a week’s lodging here. \240Set to chill until our boat next Monday 😁

Firs exploration of the town; noting opens until 10 at the earliest, 11 in some cases. \240Then everything closed again from 13 to 15.

Plenty of cool street art. \240All the outdoor shops sell sweaters, shirts and jackets, and hardly any trousers. Fruitless search for new leggings. \240Stocked up on pills for mareo - seasickness. \240Apparently the side effects can be much worse in ancients over 60.

Discovered that day trips to Torres del Paine and / or the BLmaceda and Serrano glaciers start at about £120 per person, and go up and up. You have to pay £25 entrance fee pp on top of that 😳 Off to investigate the service buses. \240Rain this pm, good excuse to chill...

Wandering, reading, relaxing.

Beautiful morning, and a short ride out of town to the north, great view of snow-capped mountains. \24035km, 250m

Happy wander around the history museum, and a visit to the Last Hope Gin Distillery

Brilliant day out with Patagonia Planet To the Milodon Cave and Torres del Paine NP.

Walking, relaxing. \240Bearded the Unimarc again - really pretty poor. \240Suffering from lack of competition!

Camped at the bus station for most of the day - prettifying dreich, so not really tempted to go anywhere. \240Finally boarded at 10pm, and now camping in our cabin 😁

After unloading and reloading all night and into the morning, we finally got away at 10am - 4 hours late, and 12 hours after boarding.

Spectacular narrow channels, glaciers and ‘fake towers’

Stopped off from Puerto Edén - tamp lowered in the bay, and some exchange with small boats that we couldn’t see. \240Flat calm an beautiful in the channels. \240Entered the gulf at about 4pm, and a very slight swell. \240Hoping this continues! \240Dolphins, seals, and a dead whale. \240Shipwreck (1978) \240that has become a lightship.

Some whales, sea lions, lots of seals. \240No wind - so peaceful!

We were waved off the ship first this morning, so hit the road shortly after 8. \240As ever, thousands of folk going to work.

Rain started at Puerto Varas, but the compensation was that we had a separated cycle path all the way to Ensenada - 42 km so far.

Today, 65km, 633m

Many sorts of forest, lots of flowers and flowering trees. \240National Park encompassing the lava fields of the last eruption from Volcan Osorno (1869). \240Quiet, end of season feel.

Rest day! \240Some rain, local festival, lots of fireworks

Wet overnight, and a big wet shower as we were packing up. \240However, the shelters were brilliant!

Short run (45km) today, leaving the 1000m climb for tomorrow. \240Grotty cold.

Wet night, so a wet clear out. \240Met a tour of 16 cyclists who left their campground just as we arrived - we were with them off and on all day. \240

Rainforest up to the top, then slightly drier forest on the other side. \240Damp all day. \240Pretty tough climb (2 weeks off, stinky cold \240- my excuse, anyway. \24072km, 1600m.

Chucking it down with rain, northerly winds, so a rest day has been called.

Visited all the banks, none would give us more than 4000 pesos at a cost of 400... bah. \240Just as well the exchange rate is reasonable!

Once we got past the junction to Chile, the road was new, with paved shoulders. \240A very pleasant ride, despite the showers. \240Trying to remember what it was like when we rode this in 2011, and generally failing!

62km, 1100m

Decided on the paid camping this time, rather than the free one - picnic tables and showers have their attractions.

Camping ACA

50km 650m

An interesting ride over a road we last rode in 2011. \240All paved now, and we think that the ripio last time distracted us from the amazing scenery. \240Gradually becoming drier, until we reached the properly dusty ACA campground 😉

Spent the better part of an hour in La Anonima supermarket watching a crashingly inefficient checkout system - queues blocking the aisles, queue jumping, three out of eight checkouts operating. All to purchase 5 items. \240They really need Mr Aldi to shake things up a bit!

Plenty of road noise in our very urban campground last night...

Decided on another short day to Junin today; the ride was lovely once we got out of the serious urban sprawl that is San Martin. \240The trees disappeared, the pampas grass appeared, and everything became so much drier. \240Clear, warm and sunny - first day back in the summer shirt for several weeks! \240However, a good-going easterly, so we’re going to sit it out here until Monday, when the wind eases. \240No trauma; supermarkets, restaurants, Grido, cheap camping (400 pesos, or £7).

Waiting for fair wind. Visited sculpture park

Another day off to try and shake off the lurgy. \240Still and sunny - much relaxing and reading.

Brilliant day, brilliant road, followed by a brilliant camping spot

Unexpected thunderstorms last night, and we had to secure the tent with big rocks against the wind, but little rain.

Today was a climb up to the higher ground - we figured that the original road had been flooded when the dam was built. \240Sunny, less dusty due to last night’s rain. \240Finally 550m back down to river level over 35km.

75km, 1000m

Tonight in the ACA motel for £12.39, including breakfast 😁

Very fast ride from Piedra Aguila, arrived here about 2pm. \240Camping 400 pesos, no shower, or a room for 700 with bathroom with hot water 🚿. \240£13 it was. \24094km, 442m

Short, fast ride here today, with a view to getting to the edge of Neuquén tomorrow (Saturday) and through on Sunday. \240Glorious isolation on the campground.

Great riding today - first a YPF in exactly the right place for second breakfast, then 15km of unfinished motorway (ciclovia!) from the junction of the Zapala road to the bypass turn-off. \240Happy cyclists!

63km, 50m

Serendipity! \240Through town pretty well with an early start - the motorway works had got as far as good grades ripio, so we chose that rather than fighting with fairly heavy traffic. \240When that ran out, we reckoned that we were riding a ripio shoulder, so we might as well ride a quieter ripio road through the fruit chacras. \240To discover the chosen road was paved, and well populated with cyclists! \24074km, 40m

A short day was promised, and we managed to make our way along tiny roads all the way to Villa Regina. \240Then we pedalled almost 9km out of town to find the municipal balneario locked up tightly. \240Good roadkill fruit today 😁🍎🍐🍇. \24070km, 27m

Great start this morning, with a huge, wide and empty dual carriageway - even paved frontages for a while. \240Eventually, the road became 2 or 3 lane, with the extra lane always on the other side, and busier as the day progressed. \240Lots of trucks carting fruit boxes, empty and full. \240Evidence of collapsed boxes along the road 😉

As the road for busier, it became much harder to just ride, always watching for vehicles from both directions, and anticipating the pinch points. \240Taking to the berm frequently, and it was very full of vegetation. \240Just as I was starting to get very antsy about it all, we reached a turnoff that offered us and alternative route for the last 20km, albeit on ripio. \240We were agreed that we preferred the ripio to doing everyone else’s driving for them. \240A very pleasant section it was, along irrigation canals and past fruit orchards.

Arrived in town around 15:00; deep siesta. \240Took 3 separate visits to the hotel before we could raise anyone to give us a room - but we got there. \240Great motel-style room (our favourite - no hauling bags and/or bikes). \240900 pesos, around £17.

Just shy of 100km, 250m

A toss-up this morning as to whether we took the paved, busy, main road, or went exploring through the agricultural chacras on the empty ripio roads. \240We’d just about decided to take the main road (still early, still quiet), when we realised that the rising sun was right in front, rendering the main road a dodgy option for an hour or two because of the visibility. \240Ripio it was. \240Great fun, on ever smaller tracks for about 12km. \240In the end, the jaggy bushes were attacking us, and as it transpired, my front tyre. \240A stretch back on the main road (no options) to Choele Choel, where we hit the YPF for coffee whilst we studied maps and made decisions.

Decided to head for Viedma. \240Over the Río Negro, and another sojourn on wee unpaved roads to Lamarque, which appears to be the last digs before General Conesa, 160-odd km away. Collected some more windfall apples and roadkill tomatoes - Lamarque is the World Capital of Tomato Production. \240At least someone answered the bell here 😉

74 km, 88m

169km, about 100m.

Yup, 100 miles. \240On my bike. \240With all my kit on board. \240Tired? \240A bit. \240Hungry? \240You bet. \240Inordinately pleased with myself? \240You’d better believe it.

Sadly, there will me no further ‘metres climbed’ updates. \240The trusty Sigma bike computer jumped off somewhere on the way out of town this morning. \240We did retrace our route back to the hotel, but it had crawled off into the undergrowth or been crushed into the gravel road by a vehicle. \240So - distance only, now. \240However, given that we are now on the pampa at almost sea level, climbs are not likely to be significant 😁

And another 100-mile day. (164km)

Though we were both ready for a rest day today, the wind forecast indicated that it would be best to get to Viedma instead. \240So we did.

Rest day - a bit overdue. \240Long lie, then a walk to the old road/railway bridge and over to Cármen de Patagones, the more ‘historic’ town. \240Hmm. \240Everyone seems to be asleep, despite it being late Saturday am. \240The idea was to take the wee ferry back (“runs every few minutes”). \240No activity observed, tourist office closed at 12:15, despite a notice in the window to the contrary. \240So we walked back. \240Rest day.

What an amazing day! \240We had a full-on tailwind all day, and sailed along the flat road 160 km (100 miles - again) in beautiful sunshine. \2406 hours riding time 😁. \240The YPF even appeared with perfect timing for lunch.

Today took a bit more effort and pedalling than yesterday... the road was busy early on, so we decided to try running the unpaved road parallel to the railway. \240Good in parts. \240No traffic, but plenty of sand. \240Rejoined 3 after 30km, by which time the traffyhad reduced a little. \240The strong tailwind from yesterday was gone, changed to a light easterly. \240100km. \240Last stretch had a paved shoulder. \240Oh, the joy! \240

Reached the YPF with associated parador and hotel at 2:30 - in time for the 180 peso set lunch of pasta 😁

Train tickets acquired. \240Usual discussions about the bikes - it appears that there is a new train since the last time we used it, when the bikes were checked in, bags and all, as cargo. \240This time, it appears that we need to put the bikes in their bags. \240Whatever. \240Something will happen. \240Chilling out in the plaza in the sunshine 🌞

Just 25km this morning.

A reasonable night, very quiet, on the train. \240Arrived in BA about an hour late, at 11:00.

Got everything together, and headed for the Colonia Express office on the waterfront. \240Quickly remember what an appalling place BA is for pedestrians, let alone cyclists.