October 28, Day 22: Villa Amengual to Puyuhuapi
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.
From left to right: early morning distant mountains. Cat bridge! Midmorning distant mountains. Irony stream. View from the peak. Gravel on the descent.
The middle part the day is a 400m climb, and it’s a very winding route. I'm riding on the shoulder on the far right, and when the road makes a hard right while going up it can mean the slope can get excitingly steep. I made a bit more of an effort with photos here, or maybe they're a convenient excuse to stop for a moment...
The top is about 600m above sea level. Not that high but there's snow close by - though it's grey and melted, it's old. Then it's over the top and downhill and the surface changes abruptly to gravel. I'm happy to be going this way: gravel makes climbs harder, the stones mean poor grip. Traffic is picking up, mostly utility vehicles, but the good surface is wide enough for everyone to safely pass.
It's getting noticeably warmer as I descend. But the surface is getting worse: more loose stones, and the good surface narrows to a car width. When a car passes it kicks up a dense cloud of dust that you can't see through. Once a truck comes past and I have to pull over and stop until the dustcloud has settled. It's getting in my eyes despite the sunglasses, and enough has settled on the phone that it's catching the sunlight and making it hard to see the screen.
I pass three cyclists who are going south to Ushuaia: a Brazilian couple and a guy spending a year touring South America by bike. We don't have a lot of language in common but I try to warn them about the Patagonian wind...
The the road flattens out at the bottom. The gravel is worse here; I have to carefully pick my way through the tyre treads. Up ahead there's some paved road ... until it turns out that only half the road is paved, it's for the side travelling south! The north lane is all gravel. Can I use it? It's only a single lane, no spare space if a car comes. For a car it's not possible: there's steel reinforcing sticking out on the border with the gravel so they can't cross to the other lane. I'm not sure I can safely get the bike through there either. But I figure I can get the bike off the outside of the road quickly, and cautiously get moving. A car does show up but I'm well off the lane before it gets close. Sadly it comes to an end after a few kilometers, but I was able to make good time.
I've noticed that my front axle gets loose after a few days on gravel. As it worsens there's noticeable "slop" in the steering so I can catch it before it fully unwinds. It was fine when I checked the axle this morning (like every morning, having the front axle come out would be bad). But it's getting loose now - it's unusual for it to go bad this quickly. Must be the gravel? I didn't think there was much vibration, the surface wasn't that bad and I wasn't going that fast... hopefully it's not something new.
From left to right: paved southbound lane. Gravel is bad but I’ve seen much worse. Lakeside route. “Bridge without a name” (seriously). Distant view of the hanging glacier. Park closed on Monday.
The road had been following a river for the last few hours, and it drains into a lake. The road follows the lakeside, it's paved for a few kilometers and then goes back to gravel. The hanging glacier comes into view! I get some pictures while I have the opportunity, and that was the right choice because it's hidden from view thereafter.
Actually, I looked into options to visit the glacier last night. It's in a national park about 20km south of Puyuhuapi, shuttle buses take you there and back. Inside the park is a 3-4 hour walk around a loop track to see the glacier.
But the turnoff to the national park is coming up... It's a bit after 1300 now, there's an hour of cycling to Puyuhuapi: I could just cycle into the park, and given the amount of exercise I've had recently I'm sure I could finish the walk and have the energy to get to Puyuhuapi before 6. Worth a shot! So I ride up the access road - to discover a locked gate, the park is closed on Mondays. Oh well.
Puyuhuapi is a tourist town and it's the offseason. The place I had picked out is closed. The place next door is also on my list and they're open, but the price they quote me is very steep: it's probably the price to rent a cabin. There's a whole lot of cabins available, but that's no good because they usually sleep 4 or more and I don't get a discount for one. So I take a quick tour around the town: lots of hospedajes of varying repute, but they're all closed until summer. There's one place advertising that it's open, it looks well run; they quote me a price that's high but it's the best option so I take it. Though to be fair the room is so nice it's worth it.
I ask about laundry ... they will wash my things! And have them back by tonight! No ironing or folding, but that doesn't matter. This is excellent, I change into shorts and summer shirt so all the things I usually wear can get washed. Opportunities to wash my jeans are few and far between, so if one comes up it needs to be taken.
Today was quite a nice day. Once I got down out of the mountains, it was so warm and sunny that the cycling shirt was just right. I've had a lot of cold days while cycling north, waiting for the warmer latitudes and warmer days to add up to fine cycling weather. Hopefully today is a sign I've got there!
And tonight I'm in the first nice warm room that I can remember, so I'm happy.
