a journey by bike

About our Blog

2008-06-22T18:20:00.005Z

Our trip has come to an end but we thought we'd leave our blog 'up' so those of you planning a similar trip can use it as a reference. You'll find the text less than helpful and only occasionally amusing but I'm sure the photo's will give some idea of what to expect down the road.

Blog's are written like a diary, you will see the last page first (the most recent post). If you want to view it in the correct chronological order please use our ARCHIVES section to see it as we cycled it. (North to South).

Thanks,
Richard & Sarah

It's about the journey, not the destination.

2007-04-07T19:02:00.000Z

We left Newcastle just over 9 months ago. It only seems like yesterday when we were packing up our shiney new bikes wondering what we had got ourselves into.

Our bikes now bare the scars of a journey that took us beyond our expectations and dreams. Our anxiety and fear of the unknown gradually changed into an understanding and appreciation of a very long continent.

It's impossible to get anything more than a glimpse of either the geography or culture of such diverse countries and people in such a short time. However, travelling by bike meant we could sometimes take a closer look and on occasions become emersed in the things that surrounded us, the people or places.

It's true a country provides an outline but it's the people that provide the colour. As we've journeyed south, we have seen some incredible sights, the Peruvian Highlands, Bolivian salt flats, vast open spaces of Argentina and Chilean volcanoes, but it's the people, particuarly Argentinians, who have provided us with many of the most memorable moments. Strangely we're really going to miss the truck drivers who would pass us sipping their maté, honking their horns, giving us either a thumbs up or shaking their hands depending on how tired we looked or how close to the summit we were.

Rather than feelings of elation and achievement, our arrival in Ushuaia brought sadness for coming to the end of such an incredible journey and adventure. We realised there was nothing at the end, but the beginning of everything.

Thanks to everyone who has helped us throughout the trip, both at home and in SA.

The end of the world. Ushuaia.

2007-03-31T18:27:00.000Z

Ushuaia, the end of the world, the end of the road and the end of our journey by bike.

An old tug slowly rotting into the Beagle Channel.

Ushuaia town and the Martial Glacier.

Ushuaia harbour. Today the departure point for cruises to Antartica but once the arrival point for prisoners to the feared penal colony of Ushuaia.

The prison in Ushuaia housed many of the worst criminals from across Argentina. It's location meant they didn't need to fence them in, afterall, where would they go?

The writing's on the wall.

'Ushuaia end of the world, beginning of everything'

We hope so.

The final push, one last pass into Ushuaia.

2007-03-31T18:11:00.000Z

Our last morning. Mixed emotions whilst packing up the tent for one last time.

Paso Garibaldi. We'd been warned about this pass by other cyclists heading north.

Standing at 430m we didn't have the heart to tell them about the passes at ten times this size that they would encounter 6000km to the north.

The first cars only crossed here in 1953, until that point Ushuaia was only accessible by sea.

Cordillera Darwin to the NE of Ushuaia.

Ushuaia at last.

We reached the southernmost city in the world after 9 months, 1 day and 8431km.

A wet day but a warm welcome at Estancia Rubi.

2007-03-31T18:03:00.000Z

Keeping dry at lunchtime.

We were invited to stay at Estancia Rubi by Julio, Grisela & thier 3 daughters Aira, Mia & Juli.

20 years ago Julio cycled a similar route to the one we had taken through central Chile above the Careterra Austral so sympathised with our cause.

They were all incredibly generous, we had a great time eating meats cured (just salt) by Julios brother, eating pizza and drinking wine.

On Sunday morning we had a tour of Estancia Rubi.

Ea. Rubi had employed upto 200 people in the past on it's 30,000 hcts with 10,000 sheep.

Rubi had it's own carpenter, bakery and a purpose built reservoir for drinking water, from where this photo was taken.

Pan de Indians. Indian bread, used as a dietry supplement (fibre) by local indians who ate almost exclusively meat.

Similar to our diet of meat while in Argentina, except we supplimented steaks with chocolate and wine.

Cordero on the parilla. Sunday lunch of roast lamb Argentine style.

We eventually set off for our days cycling at 5pm, just enough time for 20km before nightfall.

Julio, Grisela, Aira, Mia & Juli.
Thank you for everything.

Arriving on the East Coast.

2007-03-31T17:57:00.000Z

Our first sighting of the Atlantic Ocean and another clear windless Patagonian day.

Richard with a bad neck, taking a few moments and waiting for the drugs to work.

He also secretly hoped the drugs might stop his legs aching!

Guachito Gil again...

...our opportunity to leave a small gift and wish for our future prosperity.

Rio Grande. Home to the best fishing and largest trout in the world. (not this particular one, it's just a model).

Indian Territory.

2007-03-31T15:40:00.000Z

8000km.

Estancia Caleta Josefina, the first estancia established on Tierra del Fuego and our kind hosts for the night.

The huge 'galpon', shearing shed at Ea. Josefina.

Some of the early English settlers met with unfortunate endings.

Drowned in 'Useless Bay'.

Porvenir & Tierra del Fuego

2007-03-31T15:36:00.000Z

Another warning about the sun's dangerous radiation here in the south.

The wind offering a helping hand.

Two ferocious dogs attacking Sarah.

Riding along The Straits of Magellan.

90km East of Porvenir.

Punta Arenas & accross The Magellan Straits.

2007-03-31T15:32:00.000Z

A memorial to the 'disappeared' of Punta Arenas.

During the military dictatorship of Pinochet many political activists, potential adversary's and intellectuals vanished following the coup in 1973.

Pinochet was eventually arrested in London in 1998 for his role in the 'caravan of 'death' and died on Dec 10th 2006.

Boarding the ferry to cross the Magellan straights on a beautiful still morning.

Punta Arenas is famed for it's wind and has ropes in the streets for the old and light to hang onto!

The previous two days the wind was at a steady 100km p/h.

Black skies over Tierra del Fuego.

A splash of colour at Porvenir's harbour.

South End Cafe, but no egg and chips.

Puerto Natales to Punta Arenas

2007-03-31T15:28:00.000Z

Early morning sunshine.

An old truck at Morro Chico.

As we get further south the shadows grow longer and the days shorter.

Past the cave of the giant sloth into Puerto Natales

2007-03-13T19:36:00.000Z

A quite Saturday night in.

Our tent..... All the zips have broken so we've had to sew ourselves in and the weather out.

Sarah with a Selk'nam Indian. A tribe indigenous to Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. Despite the chilly climate they liked to dress in very little clothes (a bit like Geordie lasses), and paint themselves in striking designs .

They were all massacred to make way for the European immigrants and their huge sheep estancias.

Basil Brush is still a huge star in Chile.

Peurto Natales.

Wet and miserable as winter arrives. It only seems like five minutes ago when we were following the spring down from the north and feeling for everone at home as winter took hold.

Torres del Paine 2.

2007-03-13T19:24:00.000Z

A hidden peak emerging through the cloud.

Mr Ed a few moments after trying to eat our cycling shorts from the washing line. A near death experience for him.

The Cuernos del Paine.

Torres del Paine

2007-03-13T19:21:00.000Z

The Torres del Paine are 7462km from Lima. (allowing for the odd discrepancy).

The imposing towers were still a few hours away.

The Torres from left to right.

Torre Sur di Agostini.

Torre Central.

Torre Norte Monzino.

As seen from the mirador (viewpoint) at Lago Torres.

Animals of Torres del Paine

2007-03-13T19:18:00.000Z

Our first view of the Torres del Paine on a beautiful clear morning. We heard from bus drivers (usually more reliable gossips than taxi drivers) that it was very unusual to see pink flamingos here, infact it was 5 years since the last sighting.

A curious Armadillo. He seemed to enjoy Sarah's marshmallows.

Guanacos and the Torres at sunset.

We had a family of 3 foxes playing around the tent.

Estancia Cancha Carrera.

2007-03-13T19:16:00.000Z

In Patagonia it remains a tradition to provide hospitality to weary travellers. At this estancia, they were particularly hospitable.

We enjoyed sharing mate and a dinner of steak and lamb asado. They then took us to a room with a wheelbarrow of leña (wood) to keep us warm. We were woken at 8am, informing us breakfast was served!

Note our clothes hanging out to dry after our earlier soaking.

Sarah and our generous host.

The Patagonian Steppe.

2007-03-13T19:11:00.000Z

In an effort to escape, Ostriches would run down the road in front of us.

An Ostrich.

Not sure if it's clear on this photo but they have surprisingly large ear holes.

Big sky, little bikes.

Big road, little Sarah.

It looks dry, but the wind blows weather across from the west incredibly quickly. Later this day we got caught in a terrential downpour of icy rain soaking us through.

A road maintenance depot and an old 'colectivo' was our home for the night.

Perito Merino Glacier

2007-03-13T19:09:00.000Z

Taking a few moments to appreciate the luxury of motorised transport and Argentinian chocolate, on the way to the Perito Merino Glacier.

Richard (in his Lycra cycling top) demonstrating that despite all the chocolate, he hasn't put on any weight.

The Perito Merino Glacier in the background.

The Perito Merino Glacier stretching back 14km.
It is 4km wide, 180m thick and is quite rapidly moving forward at a speed of 2 metres each day.

This movement eventually bisects the two lakes creating a build up of water in the southern lake.

Every 10 years or so, the pressure of the water is so great it spectacularly ruptures the glacier, pushing aside thousands of tons of ice and once again reuniting the two lakes, starting the process over again.

The front of the glacier spreads across two lakes over 9km in length and 60m in height.

Into Calafate

2007-03-13T19:08:00.000Z

An abandoned astronomical observsatory a few km's south of La Leona.

The Patagonian wind doing what it does best; making life unpleasant for cyclists.

A new tyre. This one had been with us since leaving Bolivia, over 5000km ago.

El Chalten to Hotel La Leona

2007-03-13T19:04:00.000Z

Goodbye Fitz Roy & El Chalten, until next time.

After cycling 110km in the wind we arrived at Hotel La Leona, which despite it's name is no longer a hotel, but is famed for it's cakes.

They agreed to let us stay free of charge if we cooked the evening meal for the 3 staff and served in the cafe the following morning.

We had a great night feasting on steak, roast vegetables, potato wedges and as many cakes as we could eat.

The immacualte 100 year old wood burning stove.

Richard in action in the kitchen.

La Leona meaning 'The Lion' got it's name as Mr Perito Merino was attacked by a Lion (Puma) here.

In the back yard were two graves, one of a boatman and one of a child. A policeman also murdered his wife here.

Sarah spent the night listening to every creak and squeek. I reassured her it was only ghosts and nothing to worry about.

Glacier Grande & Cerro Torre.

2007-02-22T16:39:00.000Z

Cerro Torre being engulfed by cold air from the southern ice field.

The westerly winds bring cold air from over the ice field. As it passes over Cordon Adela, Torre etc it tumbles down into the valley like a huge waterfall before evaporating.

A leaf has melted it's own little hole in the surface of the glacier.

Looking back down the glacier the trekkers look like little ants.

Looking up towards Cordon Adela.

Semi transparent ice pinnicles.

Back to school, a cold but beautiful classroom.

2007-02-22T16:32:00.000Z

Cerro Torre as seen from Glacier Grande, our classroom for a two day ice climbing course.

Making our way across the glacier.

Sarah's first undisputed ascent.

A view of Torre from a crevasse.

An icy silhouette.

Sarah, Torre, Egger & Standhardt.

The serac avalanche of Glacier Grande providing a beautiful backdrop.

Richard.

Sarah.

Cerro Torre

2007-02-22T16:28:00.000Z

Cerro Torre (3102m), Egger and Standhardt above Glacier Grande.

Cesare Maestri claimed in 1959 that he and Toni Egger had reached the summit and that Egger had been swept to his death by an avalanche while they were descending. However, inconsistencies in Maestri's account, and the lack of bolts, pitons or fixed ropes on the route has led most mountaineers to doubt Maestri's claim. Only in 2005, after many attempts by world-class alpinists, was a confirmed route put up on the face that Maestri claimed to have climbed. Maestri returned to the mountain in 1971 with a large team and a compressor which he hoisted up the mountain putting steel pitons in as he progressed. He once again claimed a summit although he did not ascend the ice mushroom, as he claimed it was not part of the mountain. This route now called the 'compressor route' has since been climbed, however evidence of pitons or any type of protection stopped long before the summit plateau.

The first undisputed ascent is that by Daniele Chiappa, Mario Conti, Casimiro Ferrari, and Pino Negri in 1974.

The route was long considered the hardest mountain climb in the world.

For a more detailed history of Cerro Torre check out this link www.americanalpineclub.org

Crossing the Rio Fitz Roy on a Tyrolean traverse.

The ice mushroom on the summit of Cerro Torre which has been at the centre of much debate is 60m high.

Cerro Fitz Roy

2007-02-22T16:23:00.000Z

Fitz Roy was the captain of the Beagle which in 1828 was ordered by the Admiralty to sail to South America to chart the shape of the land. The vessel was the Beagle. The captain was the brilliant 23 year old Robert Fitz Roy. South America is an astonishing complex of islands, inlets, and peninsulars. Fitz Roy charted these with the instruments available to him at the time. He was brilliantly accurate and only very recent arial photography has improved his mapping a little. As was traditional, places were named after the crew of the vessel doing the charts. The Beagle was also supposed to collect specimans and a young trainee cleric called Charles Darwin was selected. It was the observations on this voyage which led to his theories on the evolution of species. At first Fitz Roy and Darwin were friends but Fitz Roy had a deep and rigid faith and he increasingly saw Darwin challenging traditional views of God, even forming a view in which a god had no place. Their friendship became strained but they remained in courteous contact for the rest of the lives. Fitz Roy was sympathetic to the natives of the area but made the mistake (as we would now recognise it ) of taking three Fuegan natives back to England where two of them died.

Fitz Roy believed he could predict the weather, particularly storms. He noted that low pressure preceded storms. He thought that storm winds move in a circular way. In both of these he was correct but his ideas were mocked at the time. When he was retired from active service he spent much of his own money setting up a' weather office' He used the new telegraph to receive messages from weather 'stations' and note the progress of winds and storms. Many ordinary sailors appreciated his work but the Admioralty ignored him. His own money was gone. His friend Darwin was gaining influence in ideas about our origins and the absence of a god. One morning Fitz Roy, a very capable man but with a flaw in him, cut his own throat with a razor. Fitz Roy was right however. If you listen to the shipping forecast today you will hear a weather area called Fitz Roy named in his honour.

The Beagle was eventually retired from active service. It ended up as an anti smuggling ship in the River Crouch, ten miles north of Southend. It's remains have been found at Paglesham Creek, a short journey from Southend.

Poincenot, Fitz Roy and the Beagle!

The glacier above Lago Sucia.

The clouds streams showing a southerly wind above the ice field, indicating a spell of dry weather.

The sun dipping above Fitz Roy.

Mount Fitz Roy & El Chalten

2007-02-22T15:47:00.000Z

Mount Fitz Roy and Poincenot as seen from road to the east.

Sarah looking forward to a glass of Argentinian wine and a hot shower.

The much drier mountains of Argentinian Patagonia.

El Chalten, the main street. The town was built in a hurry following the land dispute with Chile. A bank and paved roads are to follow. The micro brewery was the first priority and rightly so.

With the Southern Ice Field to the west and the Patagonian desert to the east, the high winds create some unique cloud formations over the town.

Candalaria Mancilla to Lago Desierto

2007-02-22T15:39:00.000Z

A spider with it's young crossing the pass to Argentina.

The bridge was out and the water was very cold.

20km of difficult horse tracks connect Chile and Argentina over the Paso de Tres Lagos.

Until recently this area was Chilean. Disputed until 1993, this remote and neglected pass now belongs to Argentina.

The usual method of transport (pack horses) has left deeply rutted paths. Our front 'low rider' panniers had to be carried on the rear rack.

At times the ruts were almost 1 metre deep and everything (all 55kg) had to be carried.

Small streams and many fallen trees slowed progress.

All that said, Richard thought some bits were fun.

Arriving at Lago Desierto, this was our first view of Mount Fitz Roy.

The Argentine 'Gendarmaria' acted as the border guards and customs officials. They were kind enough to let us camp and share their warm kitchen for the night.

The bikes strapped to the back of the small boat for the half hour crossing of Lago Desierto.