Following a big shop where we prepared for a possible 5 days on the road we headed into the mountains to find a gi-hyoooge glacier. Sounds easy doesn´t it?
Well, 40km (that´s about 25 miles back home) of slogging into the ubiquitous head wind, we had to end our first day at Estancia Cerro Buenos Aires. A lovely place sheltered from the elements by a big mountain behind. Following a chat in broken Spanglish with Jésus we ate and slept well.
Luckily the next days 40km were a breeze as the mountain protected us from the winds. On the way the scenery was spectacular and we were very excited when we got our first glimpse of the enourmous ice-field. We arrived with hopes of putting the tent up, having a bit of a rest and spending the rest of the day there. Unfortunately our map (showing two campsites) was out of date by two years. As was the map we were given by the guards at the entrance - there were no more campsites!
Obviously we wouldn´t let a little thing like being 60km away from the nearest campsite ruin our day. So we headed for the glacier lookouts and spent a few hours listening to the thunderous cracks of ice breaking and watching them splash into the lake. It was nothing short of amazing and beautiful.
After we´d seen this and done that, we had to find shelter. None of the guards were helpful and were quite clear about us having to leave the park. Yeah, right!
A few miles up the road there was a nice hidden spot off the road which was the perfect size for a tent and two bikes. Off we sneaked and hid away for the night. Gemma slept really well after such a long day and I would have had it not been for the giant clump of rubble under my half of the tent. Tsch!
The ride back to Calafate (70km / 45 miles) was great, the wind was very calm and slightly behind us.
The ride was only really finished after being circled by approximately 30 condors and Gemma almost falling off the bike when we passed a gauging station.
Next... on to El Chalten. About 220km (150miles) into reputedly very fierce winds and we have only 6 days until Christmas.
We´ll be in touch when we get there, loads of love to everyone xxx
2 comments:
You are making us all so jealous! (Apart form the cycling bit!) The photos are great and helping uis realise what an amazing feat you have undertaken. Keep well and travel safe. All my love, Mum (2) x
Hi you two, still more amazing pictures. It's getting hard to imagine how it must look in real life as the photos are so great! Jackie keeps on saying things like "How do they keep finding hotels?" and "what do they need all those bags on the bikes for?" and "where do they have a bath" and "can Gemma find someone to do her nails often enough?" and she says she's not even high maintainance!! Take care both of you, keep the blog going - you have a few visitors from work!
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