Wednesday, 22 December 2010
20th December Comorordes
We are having a chill out day today and staying here another night, very lazy all round, I try brushing up on my Spanish and Martin had a walk along the shore, we both check our kit and do a bit of repacking, how much did we bring with us. Heading South tomorrow with a couple of big mileage days ahead.
19th December Trewel – Comorardes
Today we are going to PuntaTonbo, a haven for Penguins. The chap who started the reserve came to this area in the early 1900’s and eventually bought this large area of land and dedicated it to Penguins who come here to breed. He has since died and it has now been passed over, I think to the state as, what we would call, a heritage site.
We were told it was pavement, good tarmac, all the way, well it is but that is to the gate, we now have a further 20 miles to go to get to the coast and the penguins. You can see how big this estate is, anyway, ripio, that’s loose gravel, it is.
We all arrive safely with Martin and I running through that same learning curve of how to ride on gravel, that we had both mastered 2 days previously. A small cafe, some loos and a ticket office, 3 times as much for tourists as it is for nationals.
We started our wald keenly looking out for penguins and there are literally thousands, this is apparently home to half a million of them. Some have build nest right next to the permitted path and many cross over in front and behind us, and certainly most of them are not bothered by our presence. Having walked about 2k we can now see some of them by the waters edge and in the sea.
On reading some of the info here we see that when hatched and most were by now they will leave here and travel 6000k to Brazil and then return for breading in October. They will swim up to 600k for food and dive to a depth of 12 metres each dive lasting about a minute. So earlier I was going to say, enjoying there easy lifestyle, swimming and playing, but perhaps it is not that easy!
We pop into the cafe and have ‘enchaladas’ which are like a small Cornish pasty, Martin and I have 1 each, Fank is hungry so 2 of those and a spinach tart.
Now we leave and not only have the 20k to the gate on ripio, but we have 100 miles of ripio all the way to Comorades. We build our confidence again and pick up our speed, in fact it is a bit easier the quicker you go which is fine until you have a moment. well we had a couple of those, the first one we are happily making good headway and then round a corner is a grader, like a snow plough for roads, both Martin and I head for the side of the road where resides lots of sand, OMG, we stop and Marting takes a photo of the driver. I should mention here that we are about 70 miles in any direction from anywhere and there is this chap on this bit of plant at 5pm and we did not see any other vehicle, so he obviously had a bit to do. The second was where Martin suddenly tried to turn sharp right at about 50 or 60, then straightened up, then did it again and then once more just for luck. I was sure he was coming off the bike, I think he did too, but each time the front wheel gripped for him and he was able to recover. It looked so dramatic from where I was and I have the first 2 on video but by the time the last one came he was out of shot. The gravel forms heaps and troughs over time as cars drive through, this is fine for cars but on a bike you have to cross the furrows now and again and there will also be a build up in places, basically it is like driving with 2 punctured tyres. I will never complain about a gravel car park again!
We were not in Franks good books either by now. Franks had steamed off ahead and said he would stop from time to time, which was fine until we came to a fork and my sat nav was suggesting left and Martins right, after further investigation it seemed that i had an irrelevant waypoint along the route which is why we were different. So we went right and Frank had gone left, he stopped and had 3 cigarettes and decided that we had had an accident, gone wrong or some other disaster. He went all the way back to find us and ended up doing and extra 40 odd kilometres, by the time he arrived at the campsite we were already there, not impressed. Sorry Frank.
We pitched our tents and went to the local supermarket and cooked our first proper meal, jolly good it was too.
We were told it was pavement, good tarmac, all the way, well it is but that is to the gate, we now have a further 20 miles to go to get to the coast and the penguins. You can see how big this estate is, anyway, ripio, that’s loose gravel, it is.
We all arrive safely with Martin and I running through that same learning curve of how to ride on gravel, that we had both mastered 2 days previously. A small cafe, some loos and a ticket office, 3 times as much for tourists as it is for nationals.
We started our wald keenly looking out for penguins and there are literally thousands, this is apparently home to half a million of them. Some have build nest right next to the permitted path and many cross over in front and behind us, and certainly most of them are not bothered by our presence. Having walked about 2k we can now see some of them by the waters edge and in the sea.
On reading some of the info here we see that when hatched and most were by now they will leave here and travel 6000k to Brazil and then return for breading in October. They will swim up to 600k for food and dive to a depth of 12 metres each dive lasting about a minute. So earlier I was going to say, enjoying there easy lifestyle, swimming and playing, but perhaps it is not that easy!
We pop into the cafe and have ‘enchaladas’ which are like a small Cornish pasty, Martin and I have 1 each, Fank is hungry so 2 of those and a spinach tart.
Now we leave and not only have the 20k to the gate on ripio, but we have 100 miles of ripio all the way to Comorades. We build our confidence again and pick up our speed, in fact it is a bit easier the quicker you go which is fine until you have a moment. well we had a couple of those, the first one we are happily making good headway and then round a corner is a grader, like a snow plough for roads, both Martin and I head for the side of the road where resides lots of sand, OMG, we stop and Marting takes a photo of the driver. I should mention here that we are about 70 miles in any direction from anywhere and there is this chap on this bit of plant at 5pm and we did not see any other vehicle, so he obviously had a bit to do. The second was where Martin suddenly tried to turn sharp right at about 50 or 60, then straightened up, then did it again and then once more just for luck. I was sure he was coming off the bike, I think he did too, but each time the front wheel gripped for him and he was able to recover. It looked so dramatic from where I was and I have the first 2 on video but by the time the last one came he was out of shot. The gravel forms heaps and troughs over time as cars drive through, this is fine for cars but on a bike you have to cross the furrows now and again and there will also be a build up in places, basically it is like driving with 2 punctured tyres. I will never complain about a gravel car park again!
We were not in Franks good books either by now. Franks had steamed off ahead and said he would stop from time to time, which was fine until we came to a fork and my sat nav was suggesting left and Martins right, after further investigation it seemed that i had an irrelevant waypoint along the route which is why we were different. So we went right and Frank had gone left, he stopped and had 3 cigarettes and decided that we had had an accident, gone wrong or some other disaster. He went all the way back to find us and ended up doing and extra 40 odd kilometres, by the time he arrived at the campsite we were already there, not impressed. Sorry Frank.
We pitched our tents and went to the local supermarket and cooked our first proper meal, jolly good it was too.
Saturday, 18 December 2010
18th December Trewel- round trip 95 miles
We head off this morning with Frank and travel to Rawson on the coast, we are now firmly in the Welsh sector.
Rawson is a beach town with a port. The beach has 7 lifeguard huts, noty all attended, but there are possibly 3 people on the beach. We move up the beach area to the port, a strong smell of fish indicated there main industry. There is an official port area with 20 or so cranes and moving on several boats that would have been condemned and then a bunch that obviously had been.
We stopped and had some lunch in a very nice Lebanese restaurant and after go to get some photos of the cranes, I don’t know if they were expecting a rushj but there seemed to be 3 cranes for every boat that was there.
We now retrace our steps and go inland to a couple of traditional Welsh villages. Furthest first, nothing to speak of on the surface and then back to Gaiman. Here you can have traditional English tea. A quick survey and we end up outside a very nice looking establishment with lots of smartly dressed people wandering around. Frank investigates and this one is closed as it is her Sons wedding day. A group gather aroung the bikes as usual and Martin asks for a recommendation of an alternative venue. Calls go out and the groom is introduced to us and naturally the bride, after ashort debate we are invited to stay so long as we don’t mind the waitresses collecting the glasses from the wedding reception. Wel this was fantatic for us and we had long chats with the groom who was born in the USA and welcomed the opportunity to practice his English, Frank spoke to the Spanish speaking group and the we had a photo shoot before disbanding and enjoying our tea.
What a fantastic day, we return to Trewel, fill up, we have learnt, get money, water and finally sort out Argentinean PAYG phone cards, thanks once again to Frank.
Off to see some Penguins tomorrow, half a million of them!!
Rawson is a beach town with a port. The beach has 7 lifeguard huts, noty all attended, but there are possibly 3 people on the beach. We move up the beach area to the port, a strong smell of fish indicated there main industry. There is an official port area with 20 or so cranes and moving on several boats that would have been condemned and then a bunch that obviously had been.
We stopped and had some lunch in a very nice Lebanese restaurant and after go to get some photos of the cranes, I don’t know if they were expecting a rushj but there seemed to be 3 cranes for every boat that was there.
We now retrace our steps and go inland to a couple of traditional Welsh villages. Furthest first, nothing to speak of on the surface and then back to Gaiman. Here you can have traditional English tea. A quick survey and we end up outside a very nice looking establishment with lots of smartly dressed people wandering around. Frank investigates and this one is closed as it is her Sons wedding day. A group gather aroung the bikes as usual and Martin asks for a recommendation of an alternative venue. Calls go out and the groom is introduced to us and naturally the bride, after ashort debate we are invited to stay so long as we don’t mind the waitresses collecting the glasses from the wedding reception. Wel this was fantatic for us and we had long chats with the groom who was born in the USA and welcomed the opportunity to practice his English, Frank spoke to the Spanish speaking group and the we had a photo shoot before disbanding and enjoying our tea.
What a fantastic day, we return to Trewel, fill up, we have learnt, get money, water and finally sort out Argentinean PAYG phone cards, thanks once again to Frank.
Off to see some Penguins tomorrow, half a million of them!!
17th December Puerto pilamedres – Trewel 99 miles
Now this whole trip is an Adventure so you cannot expect each day to be such and today we were striking camp and moving 100 miles down towards the South, a generally average day. Well we topped up with water and money and most importantly gas and headed off. We must have travelled at least 2 miles when on, brightly illuminated, came the red triangle on my dashboard and a battery symbol. Now I have just had the seat off to check my 2 way radio, have I trapped a wire or what. Now, not unusually here, it is blowing a hooley, so we decide to move on to the next town, Puerto Madryn to check this all out. By the time we reach the visitor centre I have all sorts running through my mind including, what if a wire is trapped and the bike catches fire, I pull into the visitor centre and Martin follows me in.
Let’s just check this out, I say, so out come the tools and we set about finding the fault. First comes the electronic analysis, and then the lets take this off and see, you can tell we were very systematic and analytical. Long story short the alternator belt was shot, not only was it shot, it was shredded. So off came the covers and there was the belt in a poor state. On further examination there was also a Yale key sticking through a small gap, and that is what had shredded the belt. What, how and lots of other questions crossed our mind. I am sure it is not my key and the only explanation we can come up with is that at sometime this key has been dropped and has lodged itself somewhere and after our 140 mile off road ride yesterday, this has shaken through this small gap and could not travel further as a keyring held it in position. This not only shredded the belt but the shredded bits also jammed the alternator. Well we managed to pick those out and recovered the key, easier said than done, and thanks to Martins foresight we had a spare belt, now to fit it. It is very tight and we think there was mention of a special tool, out with the Haynes manual, yep you definitely need a special tool. No you don’t, you need will and determination and an inventive mind. Two and a half hours later and we are done and back on the road.
Then the simple bit, the ride to Trewel, find a hotel with secure parking, this was interesting because it would seem that Martin had written down, ‘a secure apartment’, which is what we were shown, but we got there eventually. Amazingly Frank, our German friend also turned up at the same hotle, what are the odds of that, this is a large town, but having seen our bikes in the garage he took the room next door.
So a potentially uneventful day turned out, well fine in the end, but the middle............
Let’s just check this out, I say, so out come the tools and we set about finding the fault. First comes the electronic analysis, and then the lets take this off and see, you can tell we were very systematic and analytical. Long story short the alternator belt was shot, not only was it shot, it was shredded. So off came the covers and there was the belt in a poor state. On further examination there was also a Yale key sticking through a small gap, and that is what had shredded the belt. What, how and lots of other questions crossed our mind. I am sure it is not my key and the only explanation we can come up with is that at sometime this key has been dropped and has lodged itself somewhere and after our 140 mile off road ride yesterday, this has shaken through this small gap and could not travel further as a keyring held it in position. This not only shredded the belt but the shredded bits also jammed the alternator. Well we managed to pick those out and recovered the key, easier said than done, and thanks to Martins foresight we had a spare belt, now to fit it. It is very tight and we think there was mention of a special tool, out with the Haynes manual, yep you definitely need a special tool. No you don’t, you need will and determination and an inventive mind. Two and a half hours later and we are done and back on the road.
Then the simple bit, the ride to Trewel, find a hotel with secure parking, this was interesting because it would seem that Martin had written down, ‘a secure apartment’, which is what we were shown, but we got there eventually. Amazingly Frank, our German friend also turned up at the same hotle, what are the odds of that, this is a large town, but having seen our bikes in the garage he took the room next door.
So a potentially uneventful day turned out, well fine in the end, but the middle............
Thursday, 16 December 2010
16th December Puerto Pilamedres 140 miles
Today was a great learning curve for both of us, the whole of this peninsular is connected with roads termed as ripio, these are roads of predominately gravel of various thickness interspaced with SAND, OMG.
We start out and a couple of wobbles but as the journey progresses we gain confidence and we hope skill. Having started at the speed limit of 60k we get overtaken by a minibus doing a tour and breath his dust for the next 5 minutes. Eventually we are able to mave at 50 – 60 mph and relax into the terrain and every now and again some really deep gravel, or worse SAND and a real tank slapper saps all of you new found confidence.
We manage to get to Pointa Norte the most northern part of the Peninsular and see Sea Lions and had we been a month earlier Orcas would also have been here but they have all headed South. Moving on we travel down the East coast and stop to see some Penguins, now martin and I both thought we would be looking through long lenses to see some penguins on the horizon, oh no, there they are a couple of feet away, fantastic. We will post some pics of this.
Heading on South we use our new found skills and then come to deep sand and all the confidence we have gained disappears in a second, hey ho.
We arrive back at the campsite 140 miles later and 137 of those was off road, not bad. Just in time to have a shower and then update the blog and dinner.
We start out and a couple of wobbles but as the journey progresses we gain confidence and we hope skill. Having started at the speed limit of 60k we get overtaken by a minibus doing a tour and breath his dust for the next 5 minutes. Eventually we are able to mave at 50 – 60 mph and relax into the terrain and every now and again some really deep gravel, or worse SAND and a real tank slapper saps all of you new found confidence.
We manage to get to Pointa Norte the most northern part of the Peninsular and see Sea Lions and had we been a month earlier Orcas would also have been here but they have all headed South. Moving on we travel down the East coast and stop to see some Penguins, now martin and I both thought we would be looking through long lenses to see some penguins on the horizon, oh no, there they are a couple of feet away, fantastic. We will post some pics of this.
Heading on South we use our new found skills and then come to deep sand and all the confidence we have gained disappears in a second, hey ho.
We arrive back at the campsite 140 miles later and 137 of those was off road, not bad. Just in time to have a shower and then update the blog and dinner.
15th December 2010 Puerto Madryn – Puerto Piramades 63 miles
We spend the morning updating the blog and eventually leave for Puerto P:iramades. This is on the Peninsular Valdes and we once again travel with very strong side winds. Interesting ly we arrive at a toll style gate and have to pay to enter the peninsular, after about 25k we arrive at the visitor centre which has info about the history of the area, the English translation, unlike many other establishments, is outstanding. Ther is an elevated viewing area which essentially gives a better view of what wasn’t available on the ground, noe a great deal.
We then travel on to Puerto Pilamades the main, strike that, the only town on the Peninsular. The journey is flat to the end and then we decend into the town, 2 very interesting things happened here, firstly a cyclist was heading out of the town and it is a long and lonly road to wherever he is going but the second issue was that a lady was walking up the hill and we know there is nothing for 30 plus kilometres. There is a campsite which seems to have a preservation order on old caravans, but we do find a few tents and finally make camp.
Ther is a marina, may be stretching it but something close and a fantastic beach. We have a glance through the town and settle on a restaurant, guess what we have steak.
We then travel on to Puerto Pilamades the main, strike that, the only town on the Peninsular. The journey is flat to the end and then we decend into the town, 2 very interesting things happened here, firstly a cyclist was heading out of the town and it is a long and lonly road to wherever he is going but the second issue was that a lady was walking up the hill and we know there is nothing for 30 plus kilometres. There is a campsite which seems to have a preservation order on old caravans, but we do find a few tents and finally make camp.
Ther is a marina, may be stretching it but something close and a fantastic beach. We have a glance through the town and settle on a restaurant, guess what we have steak.
Wednesday, 15 December 2010
14th December 2010 El Condor – Puerto Madryn 292 miles
We packed up and headed into Viedma as the only ATM in El Condor had run out of money 2 days ago, so straight to the bank and the new maps a brilliant, many thanks Frank.
Now back to learning curves, we have 138 miles worth of ngas in our bikes and so do we fill up here or go on for a bit, we go on. However by the time we leave the outskirts of town I now have 98 miles left and it is dropping as if I have a hole in my fuel tank, this went on until I had 76 miles and stopped for miles, Martin was still fine at this time but mine then started counting down again. With the new maps I found that the nearest gas station was about 60 miles away and I had 48 miles left, OMG here we go again. Next thing Martin slowed to about 50-55 and we went on an economy run managing to get 72 mpg, normally 45, his computer had done exactly the same as mine and by the time we reach the gas station, yes we do reach it, Martin has been on 0 for 2 miles and I have 1 mile left. Another learning curve, fill up when you can and don’t trust the bike computer.
The road we have been travelling at 50 on was good, now we have full tanks it is ribbed and horrible and to add to that there is a strong side wind, not like in the UK, this is a STRONG side wind. A few miles on they are resurfacing and we have a billiard table to ride on, fab.
We arrive at Puerto Madryn and find a hotel, ask about secure parking, si,si, another large securely locked garage.
Down to the sea front and the wind is relentless we have another great bife de choritzo and flambéed pancake with apple. Good wifi means we can get emails sorted and get the blog up to date.
Now back to learning curves, we have 138 miles worth of ngas in our bikes and so do we fill up here or go on for a bit, we go on. However by the time we leave the outskirts of town I now have 98 miles left and it is dropping as if I have a hole in my fuel tank, this went on until I had 76 miles and stopped for miles, Martin was still fine at this time but mine then started counting down again. With the new maps I found that the nearest gas station was about 60 miles away and I had 48 miles left, OMG here we go again. Next thing Martin slowed to about 50-55 and we went on an economy run managing to get 72 mpg, normally 45, his computer had done exactly the same as mine and by the time we reach the gas station, yes we do reach it, Martin has been on 0 for 2 miles and I have 1 mile left. Another learning curve, fill up when you can and don’t trust the bike computer.
The road we have been travelling at 50 on was good, now we have full tanks it is ribbed and horrible and to add to that there is a strong side wind, not like in the UK, this is a STRONG side wind. A few miles on they are resurfacing and we have a billiard table to ride on, fab.
We arrive at Puerto Madryn and find a hotel, ask about secure parking, si,si, another large securely locked garage.
Down to the sea front and the wind is relentless we have another great bife de choritzo and flambéed pancake with apple. Good wifi means we can get emails sorted and get the blog up to date.
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