The road to el Chalten

3am I wake. My stomach rolls a familiar turn, "Dave I'm hungry, I need one of the bread rolls, where are they?"

10am we both wake after 12hrs of sleep following a gruelling first days cycling. One less bread roll for breakfast, morale low. "We should have brought more food", I conceded. Dave concurs, little more than a grunt passes his lips.

Life was so good rolling out of el calafate, a cool 40km covered in little over an hour. It was like sailing. Then we turned North and were struck by the furoscious wind. Suddenly, cycling seemed like a foreign sport, a sport we did not enjoy. Pedals were mashed and heads were down looking at the road. My one clip in cycling shoe hopefully doing loads of good. We were fortunate to be told of a cyclist' haven, 'la casa rosa.' An old abandoned house but a welcome home for the evening.

Heading west to El Chalten, the ominous looking peak of Fitz Roy in the background

Two more days of cycling into a headwind and we arrived in El chalten. 90km covered in 12hrs on Tarmac, the picture above doing little to show the strength of the wind that blew us off our bikes. A shame because the beauty of the world around you is lost when you head is down fighting to move forward.

We finally arrived in El Chalten and treated ourselves to a well earned burger and some beers. Next, the crossing to Chile.

Distance covered 217km in 2.5 days.

Lessons learnt:

1. Bring more food
2. Bring more cash
3. Learn how to put up your tent before you are in a cold desert
4. Make sure your water sack is firmly attached to bicycle before starting. Dry bags with holes in do not hold water as well as those without.

Kyle

 

Posted with Blogsy