Shortish day today: 6.5h, 105km, going east towards the Andes: more up than down. It's mostly following a river valley which means good views, but also climbs: the road never follows the contours as well as I'd like.

Since it's a shortish day I did have a bit of a slow start. After breakfast I went to the nearby Pasteleria to find something for lunch: the empanadas look tempting but I'm a bit worried it'd turn into crumbs in my pannier. Also the last time I ate an empanada it broke a tooth so I'm going to need more time to rebuild trust here. So I went for a mediocre, small and soft sandwich.

They also had coffee! Well, a coffee machine. Specifically a Nescafe thing with a button for each type of coffee. Basically a vending machine. I know I'll regret getting one.

I got one: the drink was hot and tasted slightly sweet and not like coffee but I only mostly regret getting it.

Another rest day! But it's Monday and the repair shop is open so I took the bike in. There's the squeaky back wheel, a broken spoke, and I also asked for a quick look over the rest of the bike in case some other problem is developing that I haven't noticed yet. We sorted things out over Whatsapp, pickup time is 8 tonight.

After that I had the day mostly free. There's a museum I would like to look at but it's closed on Monday. But there is a nice botanical garden out west, over the bridge, attached to the university. Since it said botanical garden I was expecting flowers and small plants, it was very big trees, nothing shorter than a house. It was a sunny and a bit warm, so the talls trees meant there was a lot of shade. Some of them had QR codes on them for more information. eg: This is a Sequoia, it's from North America, the species is somewhat endangered.

Took a tour of a retired Chilean submarine today. It's "Oberon" class, made by the UK in the 1960s and retired in the 1990s. 27 were built: 13 for the UK Royal Navy, and Chile, Australia, Brazil and Canada ordered the others. They have diesel engines which charge lead-acid batteries, which power the electric motors. The diesel engines need air so they can only be used at periscope depth - so the batteries did a lot of work. And were carefully contained; if there was an acid leak that reached the hull it would be a very bad day at the office!

Onboard it's full of sharp edges, low ceilings, narrow corridors, tiny rooms - no spare space anywhere. It had a crew of 75, who worked and slept and rested in three shifts so 25 would be asleep at any one time. There weren't much more than 25 bunks, presumably they're in continuous use. Even the captain's cabin didn't have a visible bed: it looked like a couch was repurposed.

Submarines are not for tall people: I had a hardhat on and knocked it against the ceiling even when trying to stay low. The main corridor passed through hatches in watertight bulkheads which needed to be climbed through. It'd be clear who was new on the crew by how much slower they got around...

Just a short 5 hour ride today, taking the back roads to Valdivia. When I got going there was light rain. The forecast said it'd dry up midmorning and this time it was accurate! There were a few more light showers but I didn't need to put my raincoat back on for the rest of the day.

The first part of the ride is crossing the Ruta 5, which is the main north-south highway. It's a Saturday morning and fairly quiet. If cars are coming the other way at the same time they can't easily go around me: when that starts to happen I prefer to get off the road and onto the shoulder - even if it's rough. Two cars and a bike side-by-side doesn't leave much space, and I don't want to try fitting us all onto the road with two below-average drivers, I don't trust them.

The surgeon advised me to take at least one day of rest so that's today. I'm actually feeling OK, like I could ride today if I needed to. But pushing too hard runs the risk of getting sick, which I don't have time for. So I'm taking the day.

As always there's a few chores. I need to get salt for mouthwashing, more drinks, soft snack food, and visit an ATM. And get my laundry done. I also want to take a thank-you card to the pair of dental clinics who helped me yesterday: they were very patient with me and my Google Translated questions, and meant I could get everything done very promptly so I really appreciate it. Also cake! It's a rest day after all.

The B&B I'm staying at is nice, but it's 15 minutes walk from the town. Rain was forecast so I packed my backpack with a raincoat, then accidentally left it all behind. After I got into town the rain started. Just a drizzle, then stronger: I was in my fleece getting steadily wetter because I didn't want to take the 30-40 minute roundtrip back to the B&B.

The only interesting part is that thank-you cards aren't a thing in Chile. I found this out the hard way, of course: tried three bookstores and two mercardos and the closest I could find was a gift card. In desperation I tried a pharmacy (in hindsight, I must have been very desperate) and ended up having a chat to the lady running the shop, who explained that thank-you cards aren't a thing in Chile. She did have some A4 card and envelopes though, which I gratefully bought. Please don't ask me to explain what Chilean pharmacies have in stock, I have no idea what the rules are.

I rode the bike for a bit today, but let’s talk about the dental drama instead!

After a less-than-conclusive email exchange with the dentist in Amsterdam, I thought it'd be wise to get a dental X-ray. Not being able to use one side of my mouth is a sign that something is wrong, so I'd like to send it over to them to get it diagnosed. So before leaving Puerto Octay I found a couple of good dentists in Rio Bueno, set up a brief writeup in Spanish asking for an appointment for tomorrow, and sent it to their contact email or WhatsApp numbers.

Checked the phone a few times during the ride, no response. So once I'd arrived and got civilized I thought I should head into town and visit the places in person. First on the list is Clínica Alcudia, which is not just top-rated but also closest. They’re open, looks like a good place, so I head in. Google Translate did a lot of heavy lifting, but we got things figured out: they arranged an appointment for me, in half an hour at 1700. But I needed to go to the other branch which is a 20 minute walk. (Tactfully mentioning that I contacted them earlier and got no response is too delicate a subject for Google Translate.)

I get called into the dentist's room, he has a poke around in my mouth and I'm happy to say there were no misunderstandings with my improvised hand signals for pain. Bit more Google Translate (I owe that team drinks, seriously) to say my molar is cracked in two.

Two options: save or remove? Saving takes three-four weeks. Removing takes one session and I'd be back on the road in a day or two.

Yesterday I bit an olive stone in an empanada. By bad luck the tooth that crunched it was already a bit sensitive, my dentist previously mentioned there was a crack here ... and it felt like I'd broken part of my tooth off. The empanada got forgotten for quite a long time while I tried to figure out how bad the damage was - I could feel some jagged corners that weren't there before, and there's a tooth that's not actually painful but was definitely reserving the right to light up some excruciating pain.

The question that matters is, can I still eat? Feels like I can, so long as absolutely nothing strays to the left side. That's going to make things complicated, but manageable.

I mailed my dentist in Amsterdam with a few more details; they weren't excited and asked for photos of my teeth. This is not an easy thing to arrange when you're alone. I managed a selfie with a duck face the other day, but that needed quite a bit of time and concentration. Getting a well-lit photo of one's own teeth is next level. I ended up facing the sun, yawning, with my phone within biting distance: it's not possible to see the screen because of glare and view angles so there's a bit of guesswork involved. I got some pictures but I'm not going to post any here because this is a family show.

Just a short ride today. I'm not completely sure why I decided to spend a night in Puerto Varas: it'd been recommended as a nice place to be. Also the weather was looking awful so a short day would be good. And I had some chores to do.

The weather was pretty bad, the traffic was also pretty bad so a short day was definitely the right choice. The route started with a very steep climb through the suburbs of Puerto Montt, more of those 10% gradients the Chilean road engineers like.

Then onto the B-route to the north. Ruta 5 is the main highway north from here: it's a dual carriageway, no place for bikes. I was hoping that most traffic used it leaving the B roads clear. Unfortunately the road was quite busy the whole time. And it was not built with space for bikes. There was sometimes a shoulder, which I would ride on whenever it was available, to stay apart from the cars. It was a bit rough: potholes and puddles; so all the gear cleaning yesterday was sadly undone.

The big task for today is to figure out the rest of the route to Santiago. Since I'm doing this trip at tourist speed I'm finding all the interesting things I can, then setting up a route that visits as many as possible. A park with life-size dinosaur statues. A yellow railway bridge. A town that declared independence from Chile for two days. An erupting volcano. A waterfall hotel that can only be entered by rope bridge. 70,000 empty coke bottles arranged in the shape of a Coca Cola logo.

Unfortunately some of these are north of Santiago, or so far inland I can't get to them. But the rest: I'm going to do my best. So my route looks a little wild. For more than a few things, I could get there ... but it'd cost a day. I mostly took the hit. I didn't stick around in the south, for reasons I may have shared, and I do have a few spare days now.

The rest of the day is other biking chores. My gear is coated in fine roadgrit, after the long wet rural day yesterday. Showers are the best way to get things clean. Panniers, rack bag, shoes, outer layer, cycling gloves, not sure about the woolly gloves. There's even a heater on the wall which gets both sets of gloves dry overnight.

I also go out to find the zero kilometer sign for the Careterra Austral. It's several kilometers away, at the top of a steep hill, accessible only by a busy road, with no bicycle path, in a carpark that looks like a great place to buy hard drugs.

Lunch today is uncertain. Today there’s a ferry, and just before the ferry is a town and I figured I might be able to get lunch there. It’s a risky move, it hasn't worked so far this trip, but I'm feeling optimistic. Also, I had a look around in a mercardo last night after dinner and couldn't find anything that'd make a respectable lunch, but maybe I'm not looking with the right kind of eyes.

The forecast said mild rain, a few mm, and wind so ferocious I took a screenshot. (See below: 44km/h, gusting to 77.) The rain prediction has already lost my trust; I'd been listening to rain on the roof since I woke up. Might just be an acoustically sensitive roof but it sounds like a lot of rain. And there's lightning too, flashes so powerful and bright the ancient Aztec priests wouldn't have problems with unbelievers for weeks.

Maybe I should stay in Hornopirén another day? The weather forecast for tomorrow is about the same, and every day of the ten-day forecast has rain. So if the weather today is too bad to ride, that sort of thinking might leave me stranded here for the foreseeable future... and Hornopirén doesn't have enough charm to make that a good idea.

Today is a complicated day, the route to Hornopirén includes two ferries. The first one leaves at 1230, but the departure point is 55km up the road from Chaitén.

Komoot thinks it'll take 4h45m to get there so I plan to leave at 0700, that allows for 45 minutes of delay. Still a bit of a gamble: if the gravel is too rugged or the headwind too strong, I'm going to miss the ferry. There's a second one is at 2000, but that means a long day’s wait, and it gets in to Hornopirén close to midnight.

And then there's the second ferry. The first one is a short 45min jaunt across the water to Fiordo Largo, then 10km more gravel to Leptepu, where the next ferry departs from. 10km of gravel usually takes most of an hour. The ferry timing is planned for cars: looks like there's 45 minutes to get from one to the other. If I'm late, I'm sure the ferry won't wait. So it's a bit of a stretch, with no room for error. Or time for photos.

The rain showed up at sunrise, a serious deluge with some severe wind to go with it. I'm very, very glad I'm taking two days off not one: the next section is 50km of gravel to Caleta Gonzalo where the ferry departs at 1230. If I'd had to ride there this morning I'd have heavy rain and a strong headwind, on a gravel road with a hard deadline.

The weather forecast for tomorrow is much more welcoming, fortunately - it should be only the gravel road and the hard deadline! Hope it's accurate.

Since the weather was miserable today I didn't go out much. It's also All Saints' Day (possibly "The Day of the Dead") and it's a serious holiday in this town: no cafes or bakeries open, and the mercardos are on strange reduced hours. I got bread rolls from one, and cheese and salami from another: that's lunch for today and tomorrow.

So a quiet one! There's more to tell, but it's late and I have an early start.

My lodging didn't provide breakfast, mostly because I'm the only person staying there. So I went out for a look around a bit before 9 - specifically, looking for somewhere I could find some breakfast. There's two cafes: both shut. Three bakeries: only one looked legit, and it was shut. Supermarkets/shops: there were a handful and they were all closed.

Chaitén is a quiet small town, but it's a Thursday and this seems unusually quiet. And the reason is that today is a holiday: the "National Day of the Evangelical and Protestant Churches", but most people say "halloween". Tomorrow is "All Saints' Day", but the day is also known as "Day of the Dead".

So my breakfast search didn't work out.

I've got three full days until the day I need to go to the ferry, so I have a bit of flexibility. It's 144km to Chaitén so I can ride there today, and then have two rest days there. Komoot estimates 9.5h so it would be a long day. Or I can stop along the way and have two light days and a single day off in Chaitén.

The road to Chaitén is mostly low-key ups and downs ... except. In the middle is a big mountain with a 400m climb, and the way up is mostly a nasty 10% gradient.

So the question is, where should I stay the night? There's a few possibilities.

The first option is Villa Santa Lucía, a tiny village at the junction between the Ruta 7 and the 235. It's just before the big climb starts and about halfway along, so it's a natural place to stop.

The next is Hosteria La Cumbre, which is a bit further along. Turns out it's quite high up in the mountains - in fact it's just before the peak. Very tempting if the climb is too much work...

There's another option after that, in Puerto Cárdenas. This is a group of houses, I don't think it can be called a village. On Google Maps there's six accommodation options, and five of them flyfishing lodges with prices in US dollars like $750 per night or $8000 per week. There's also "Hospedaje Lulu" which looks like a normal guest house but given the neighbourhood I worry that if I look American or use the word "fishing" another zero would go on the end of the price. It's 2.5 hours from here to Chaitén so stopping here means today a bit of light exercise tomorrow.

Puyuhuapi turned out to be underwhelming. I'd been thinking of staying two nights, but it didn't work out - it's before the tourist season and the town is not yet open for business. The only available tourist attraction was the hanging glacier, which I'd seen and got photos of yesterday - albeit from a distance. There was exactly one restaurant open which was OK, but not good enough to stay a second night. (There were a couple more interesting ones but they looked closed until the summer season.) The place I was staying was thoroughly nice, but also was the only option in town.

There's so few options that most of the people I saw at the restaurant last night, were also at breakfast...

So it's time to move on. The next stop is La Junta, which is 50km up the road. Not far, mostly flat, Komoot thinks it'll take a bit over 3 hours.

I left late-ish since there was no rush. The route started with a sneaky ride down a walking route, over a pedestrian bridge, and then a surprisingly big climb out of town. The wind was not an issue; this is a nice change so it's worth mentioning!

I was feeling a bit unwell yesterday and went to bed early, but was feeling better this morning. After two cups of tea, anyway. I'm staying at a hostel and breakfast is eggs, with four pieces of toast with jam and/or cheese. I eat everything. It's enough but it's not a breakfast buffet...

Today's route is more down than up. Which is great, but has the slight downside that I'm starting high up in the mountains, and it's cold when the sun isn't shining. Fleece or not? No fleece, I'm sure I'll warm up once I get going. In the meantime: brrr. Cold sunscreen, also brrr.

I loop around the town to see if I can find something to take for lunch. The supermarket is closed - it's not long after 8am in a tiny mountain village, that's not a surprise. There's cafes but they're not just closed, they're not opening until summer. So lunch is going to be museli bars.

And then it's onto the main road, out and down. The roads are quiet but not empty. I'm not going to complain about downhills, but they do mean I don't have to work and so I'm still cold. The scenery is spectacular but taking a photo means stopping and I really don't want to do that, I'm cold. Apologies, scenery: you do deserve better.

This is the offseason and lots of places are closed. Last night when coming into Villa Mañihuales I passed quite a few hospedajes, but they were all closed. (Happily the place I had picked out was open.) Likewise, Google Maps shows quite a few restaurants in town but all the nearby ones were closed and I needed to walk to the other side of the river, where three out of four were shut. Had an average burger, but picked up dessert from a bakery and it was so good I wondered whether I should stay longer.

And this is a very real option. What's going on is that I've got tickets booked for a ferry to Hornopirén in about a week. I've planned out the route there and it includes one rest day. I was thinking of spending it in Puyuhuapi, which apparently has good desserts and also a hanging glacier. But from what I've seen Puyuhuapi looks overpriced and without much to do... on TripAdvisor's top five things to do the hanging glacier is listed twice and items 3-5 are hiking trails without descriptions. So I'm starting to wonder if this is best place to take a day off.

Got a route choice today. Stay on the Carreterra Austral, or take another quicker route? The Carreterra Austral option includes a good 40km of gravel, and the estimate is 6 hours instead of 5. I decided to take it: I've got the time, it should mean less traffic, and as it's more remote the views should be better.

Despite it being gravel and slower than the asphalt alternative, there was a surprising amount of traffic. A few stock trucks with trailers - they gave me a lot of space when passing, and I was deep in the gravel at the edge of the road. Regular utes. A few small delivery trucks. The road was wide but the best surface for cycling is where the cars go so I had to keep an ear open and slide over to the deep gravel on the shoulder when I heard something coming. Everyone was going slow so it was all very low-key.

The scenery was spectacular. The road did a fair amount of climbing up front - and climbs on gravel aren't that much fun, especially if the surface is large stones - but after that it was high up and there were some great views. The Carreterra Austral is threading its way up the Andes, surrounded by mountains until close to the end.

It's far enough north that everything is green, so all the mountains are covered in trees and there's grass trying to grow on any unattended spot. Definitely an improvement over the Patagonian desert.

Coyhaique was very nice but is not really a tourist town. I arranged to spend two days here, then Googled for things to do. This was the wrong way around; as far as I can see the main Thing To Do in Coyhaique is the regional museum. Google showed a few other things to see but it's a stretch to call them tourist attractions so I won't list them because it would be insulting. It's not really a tourist town, and that's absolutely fine. That being said, there are a lot of hostels around so there must be a lot of visitors - but what for? Presumably not tourism...

One big perk of this sort of cycling trip is that you can eat everything. And probably should. This is a great reason to take a trip in Spain or France where bad restaurants are not permitted to survive, by law.

But in rural South America it's not always a benefit. I've been through a lot of days where the only options are beefsteak, hamburger or pizza. Being hungry makes any meal better but even with that adjustment, I've had a lot of average burgers.

And in smaller towns the list of restaurants is mostly pizza places or burger places. It's like this the world over, I remember one Swedish town where finding something that wasn't a pizza place was like playing Where's Waldo.