Chapter 2: Carretera Austral

*all my distances are averages because at this stage I don't have a GPS or bicycle computer and I realised quickly that neither the map, the road signs nor the locals are 100% correct*

Day 1 (06 Oct 14): 40kms. Pavement. A friendly Italian/Chilean lady with tasty empanadas. Asked a guy if I could chuck my bike in his truck so I wouldn't have to pay extra for the ferry. He even let me ride in the cabin so I didn't have to pay anything. Couldn't understand anything he said. Awkward.

Day 2: 50kms. First dirt road. Lunch with a friendly kitten by the river. The second half was much more difficult than I expected. I arrived at Hornopirén completely exhausted and had a good feed. The lady offered to let me camp next to her restaurant/home. I played with her three grandkids for a few hours.

Day 3: 10kms. Ferry #2 took the better part of the day. I shared a lunch of pasta and biscuits with Leo the Swiss guy. With a bit of back tracking I ended up finding Tía María in Pillan. I had met her previously through my friends in Puerto Natales and she offered to host me on my way through. She was very surprised when I told her I had encountered a rare 'Pudu on the way.
Pillan is a beautiful invite only village of about 12 residents in Parque Pumalin (which is not a Nacional Park but the private property of the owner of Northface).

Pillan

Pillan. 

Tía María and Simon of Pillan. When Simon saw the Aussie flag on the back of my bike he made me a Chile flag to put on it too.

Day 4: 20kms. Ferry #3. Accidentally camped a few hundred meters short of the campsite. Only realised the next day.

This is me (and my sweet ranga beard) halfway through a very tough day. It was the longest leg I had attempted at the time, with bad roads, lots of mud and RAIN. I learnt a few valuable lessons that day. Like a) Don't smile while going downhill or I'll get insects/mud in my teeth. And b) Don't stare at the mountains too long or I'll ride off the road or into potholes or rocks. Also now I cover my stuff with a tarp BEFORE I leave in the morning. Every day. So much rain..

Day 5: 70kms: RAIN. A very long day of difficult hills. The muddy road was scattered with potholes and rocks. The whole day I was fuelled by the hope of arriving at Termas Amarillo and camping along side some hot volcanic pools..
I didn´t get to see Volcán Chaiten on the way because of cloud cover. I didn't find Irvin (a guy that María had set me up to meet so that I could camp for free). I wasn´t allowed to camp near the thermal pools. I rode an extra 10kms in search of a campspot that didn´t exist. I had very little water left... BUT I wild camped in the middle of nowhere. I had my music, my inflatable pillow and my Mantecol. Couldn't be happier.

Day 6: 30kms. Lago Yelcho. Terrible weather which combined with awful roads would be the norm from then on. Met a bunch of Argentinos at their holiday retreat. It wasn't open for the season yet but they gave a me a room and let me stay for free. They even shared food and beer with me. Very cool people.

Day 7: Rest day - naivly waiting for the bad weather to pass (it doesn´t pass). The Argentinos were heading to the thermals so I tagged along. Success. Got to sit in the hot baths all day.

Day 8: 80kms. A morning of rain and a big fuck off mountain. A good, albeit cold, downhill run into Villa Santa Lucía. Easy going to Río Palena through a valley that reminded me of 'The Great Valley' from The Land Before Time. Asked a local if I could camp next to the river on his property.

I don't remember where I found this town but I thought it was worthy of a photo. About 10 houses or so and that's it!

Day 9: 40kms. I got caught out by roadworks and had to wait for a few hours beside the road. Camped on a nice Lake. Not 100% sure where I am on the map.


Day 10: 40kms. Shit road. Lunch in Puyuhuapie. Camping at Parque Nacional Queulat. Had to move my tent after a puddle appeared underneath. Tried to have a hot shower. Fail.

Day 11: My first glacier! Rest Day.

Day 12: 60kms. Queulat Pass at 500m. A fucking GREAT downhill but freezing cold. I had to stop halfway to put on extra layers. My hands were numb. After the pass it was most definately not all downhill to Villa Amengual, which is what I expected. I slept at a hospedaje/restaurant/supermarket/someones house. The town is set high in the mountains with great scenery all around.

Day 13: 60kms. Pavement. Sun. Downhill. Best run yet. The oasis run. Saw some Condors. A nice chat with a local girl at the chocolate shop.

Day 14: 75kms. Fucked. Long low gradient uphills. Not so satisfying downhills. Arrived at Coyhaique and couchsurfed with some Frenchies at Rodrigo's place.

Day 15: Rest day in Coyhaique. At night we went south to Rodrigo's cabin.

Day 16: A waterfall. A boat tour of some marble caves. Said goodbye to Rodrigo and the Frenchies and stayed the night in Río Puerto Tranquilo. I met my first fellow cyclist! Nick from The Netherlands who had lived in Australia for about 15 years. We chatted for hours because neither of us had had a decent chat (in English) for yonks! I hope to meet him again.

Day 17: 85kms. A grerat day! Beautiful sun all day and some good downhills. I met Victoria and she kept passing by all day and saying hello from her car. A very cool chick. Followed the stunning Río Baker from it's 'nacimiento' to its 'confluencia' with Río Neff. Victoria showed me some edible berries and we found some rare and delicious mushrooms that I took back to my camp to put in my soup. First campspot with nice enough weather to sit outside for a while and have a fire.

Day 18: 30kms. Difficult going. Some great downhills and one really shitty one. I had to get off and push my bike. Arrived in Cochrane. Met Rachel while looking for food. She invited me over for maté tonight.

Day 19: Rest day in Cochrane. I left it too late to call Rachel and my phone stopped working. Disappointed. Lesson learnt.

Day 20: 90kms. Early start. Easy run. An epic downhill with great scenery and some gusty wind that made it very difficult to keep my balance. First decent headwind. A sunny arvo at a peacful wildcamp next to a river.

Day 21: 40km. An unexpected mountain pass! My map doesn´t have contour lines so I tend to be surprised by the road I encounter. I figured because I was heading from the mountains to the sea it would be more or less downhill. Wrong. Also the distance was wrong on my map by about 15kms. Nevertheless it was beautiful isolated mountain country. Saw a goat jump off a cliff. Made the early ferry (#4). Rain started closing in again. Spent the rest of the day/night alone at the ferry shelter on the Río Bravo side because I wanted to delay getting wet again. Fingers crossed for tomorrow but I think there will be rain.

Day 22: 45km. Out of sheer luck the other day I happened to read about a Refugio between the ferry stop and Villa O'Higgins (a 100km stretch with about 5 houses). And today I found it!
I met an old bloke on the way and he showed me the shack he had built. It had solar power and lots of apple trees around. He was nice and kind of odd. I couldn't understand much of what he was saying.

"Found a sweet shack last night in the middle of the sparsely populated final stretch of the Carretera Austral. Going by all the drawings on the door it is frequented by many cyclists in the tourist season. When I find myself alone in these isolated places I feel a strange mix of quiet reflective solitude and jubilant freedom. I spent a little time lazing in the rare afternoon sun talking to the wind and a little time dancing like a maniac until my speaker ran out of juice."

Day 23: 55km. Last stretch. After four days of sun I finally got rained on again. I came over a rise and saw Villa O'Higgins nestled among the mountains about 3kms away, but the road was deceptive. I still had about 13kms. The thought of a hot meal kept me going all day but when I arrived everything was closed so I had to cook for myself(!). Nick arrived later with another bloke, Leo.

Day 24-26: It snowed! It was beautiful. Spent 3 days doing nothing. Playing cards and board games with Nick. Also met Martin, a bloke that had walked from Mexico; Spud, an English fella; and Ivan, a cyclist from Spain.

Day 27: 01 Nov 14, the last 7kms of the Carretera Austral!!!! Can't believe I did it. I didn't have time to savour the moment as the adventure was far from over. I was focused on the 22km mountain pass on the other side of the ferry (#5) and I wasn't completely sure what to expect.

It was the first ferry of the season and I was there together with all the guys I met in O'higgins. Once we had signed out of Chile Nick, Ivan and I left the other guys behind and made for the pass. It was awesome. The first 10kms were very steep with terrible gravel - the first time I've had to push my bike. For the final 7kms the road deteriorated into a walking track. It was a three man effort to pass some of the obstacles. We had to build bridges, cross a swamp, cut away trees and get the bags off/back on the bikes numerous times. It was exhausting but loads of fun and we were rewarded with some incredible views of Mt. Fity Roy that not a great deal of other people get.

We were told that when we arrived at the Argentinian immigration, set on the gorgeous northern shore of Lago Desierto, we would have to camp the night and wait until 6pm the following day for the ferry, but as we started setting up camp a different ferry arrived (#6) and we managed to jump on it. Leo caught up just in time too. We all camped together on the other side of the lake.