10th December Freeing the bikes 207 miles

We started well yet again with our booked taxi failing to arrive, no problem, book another then the original one arrives half an hour late. We will get used to this i am sure.

The challenge today, CUSTOMS, but we can sort this.

Got our entrance ticket and went to office 2 after a bit of a wait and then visited office 1, office 3, the warehouse and then repeat, several times. All unpacked and ready we head out at 14.45 and need gas. There is a gas station just there100 meters away, no you need to go here there and everywhere and 5km later you will enter the airport. We used a slightly different approach and 16 miles later and 2 tolls and a car park ticket later we entered the airport, no problem we are here.

Now to collect our luggage, left at the taxi office, here is an admission both Martin and I knew we would fall off, we did not however realise it would be outside terminal 1 at the airport. Martin had stopped and I pulled in alongside him as he leant his bike onto the sidestand, our panniers touched and that was our first incident, hey ho.

Finally the adventure begins, we head off and we are both surprised by how green everything is, preconceived ideas and all that. Long straight roads and lots of lorries.

We eventually arrive in Azul and set about finding a contact given to us and we need to find La Poste. Well needles and haystacks come to mind having passed and surrounded the waypoint on the sat nav several times. We finally travelled slowly down a side road and a cyclist turned around and headed straight for us, ´La Poste´ he shouted, si si we chanted, much pointing and instruction followed and he turned and rode away, we followed his instruction and then a car stopped and said´La Poste´si si, more pointing and instruction and we arrived at La Poste:

We will give a detailed account of the evening later.

We are on the way

Having had our flight cancelled and rebooked a day later, we were more than set to to make progress.

An early start and a quick breakfast at Gatwick saw us away to Madrid for the first leg. A tedious 10 hour wait for the fight to BsAs was broken up by an impromptu decision to try the splendid Metro into the centre of Madrid. We could not believe the amount of people milling around Sol square, it was like Trafalgar Square in New Years eve. We found what seemed to be the only restaurant in town and had a welcome meal.

The flight was delayed an hour but we were glad to get going again. Comfort was improved when we were "upgraded" to the front seats with more legroom. My heart sank when I found my seat right next to a young family with a new born baby but the baby did not make a squeek in all the 13 hours of flight, must have been a seasoned traveller. David ended up with the only seat on the plane that had a non functioning TV and he suggested to the stewardess that he be upgraded to the empty Business Class and got that old fasioned look that stewardesses have perfectly mastered. We slept the best we could sitting upright and arose on landing with suitable bruised coccixs.

Glad to have arrived we happily stared the process of recovering the bikes from Cargo only to find 3 hours into the process that the bikes had missed their flight and would not be there till that evening. Never mind, we said through gritted teeth, and headed in the city.

Hotel is basic but friendly and provided useful wifi as mobile phone connection has proved frustrating.

We grabbed a local bus and headed to #2 on the top 10 must-do sites in BsAs, the local cemetary. Not the usual decayed cemetry we are used to but a whole town of terraced mauseliums where no expence was spared in their construction with more marble than is left in Sicily. One of the more famous interns is none other than Eva Peron, Evita, in her family tomb laid to rest 6 metres below the surface for "safety".

A further stroll around town took us to the most immence dual carriage way, 18 lanes wide, build relatively recently at the expence of some good and bad original buildings. Only a few were allowed to survive, one being a chateau like French Embassy.

Tonights meal was at a restaurant recommended by David's friend, Zulu Warrior, a most splendid meal ending in the most awsome toffee apple pancake flambe'd in white rum.

Our ride home was on the third means of local transport, the underground metro, taking us back to the hotel where we confirmed with Iberia Cargo that the bikes had landed and for a well earned night's sleep.

Bikes On Their Way

Our bikes were duly delivered to the shippers at Heathrow for crating up and hopefully are in the air as I type and are due to land at Buenos Aires some time this evening.
Our biggest worry at the moment is the logistics of dealing with Customs and getting the bikes released using our rudimentary Spanish.
Once we are on the bikes, we can calm down and really start the trip.

Packing the Bike

There is always a big compromise between weight and taking stuff for all eventualities.

We are unsupported on this trip so are relying on being self sufficient so need lots of spare parts and some tools, which thankfully are not that bulky but are quite heavy.

Three months worth of undies was totally prohibitive so plumbed for three sets and some washing liquid, this will give us something to do in the evenings.

We decided to take a spare tyre each as the knobblies we are running have a limited life on the gravel roads and we do not expect to find QuickFit on our route.

The Suit

Using the bike every day for getting around, I thought it appropriate to give the old suit a spring clean or should that be a winter clean.
This was the first time it had come completely apart so I thought it would be interesting to lay it out to see its components.
It is a great suit you can add bits and remove them to suit the temperature and the weather, just what we need for this trip with our climates ranging from Antarctic Summer through Equatorial rain belts to American Spring.

Three Week to Go

We are frantically going through and crossing off items on our to do list, only to find that for every one that gets crossed off another two spring to mind.

Still Working on the TimeFrame

Due to work commitments the start of this Adventure will have to be time shifted at least 3 months.
This will mean that the route will have to be reversed to ensure that the southern section is not covered during the snowy season but does mean the desert crossings will be hotter.