31st December Lago Roca – El Calafate 91 miles

Packed up camp today and for the second day running we were able to fill our camelpacks from the tap as the water is once again potable. Must be because we are in the mountains, I guess.

Off to the Moreno Glacier today, this is only about 30 miles away, the first 18 on ripio and then a smooth road which gradually became more twisty as we progressed along it. We are riding down beside a lake with the odd iceberg on it and then we wind around the mountain, this is a great riding road for all you motorcyclists.

Then it happened, we round a corner and there it is, or at least part of it, the Moreno Glacier. You will have to wait for the photos once again but this is stunning. It is a living moving Glacier and is about 5 miles wide, I told Martin that I would have to go back and do that bit again with the video.

You can take a boat trip which takes you up close. The glacier towers between 45 and 75 meters above us and feeds into 2 lakes. We went on from the boat to the end of the road where a new visitors centre has been built with a very comprehensive and complicated walkway. Whilst we were there watching and listening to the glacier, every now and again there is a noise like a clap of thunder, where part of the glacier collapses, often you cannot see this but just hear. Everyone wants to see a peice break off the face, you can watch a listen for ages and not witness this, but fortunately for me I was standing next to a German guy who shouted and pointed as a massive piece broke from the face and crashed into the water. Many photos later and an exhaustive walk back, up all the steps we had previously strutted down we headed back along the fantastic twisty road to El Calefate.

On the way up to the visitor centre we saw Mark and Michael, two Canadians who are father and son we had previously met in El Condor nearly 3 weeks ago. Having had a chat with them they recommended the hostel they were staying in, it has secure parking, Wifi and we can join them for dinner later, this is great as it is New Years Eve.

Having got booked in I can now get the blogs posted as we have been incommunicado since Christmas Day when we left Ushuia. Both Martin and I caught up with our families, which was fantastic. I spoke to Jo at 12.30 UK time after she had celebrated New Year, it was only 9.30 here so we then went out for dinner and celebrated New Year ourselves. We were joined by a Dutch lady called Helena who is busing her way around and is staying in the same hostel.

A good evening and a late night, off to Chaiten tomorrow which is an active volcano, ironically it is in the Los Glaciers National Park, but I guess one leads to another.

We will get some photos posted soon but we have lost Martins laptop, broken not missing, so will sort as soon as possible. We will also try to keep the posts regular but it all depends on internet access and the places we have been recently have not had electricity let alone phones.

Happy New Year.

30th December Torres del Paine – Lago Roca Nat Park des Les Glaciers 223 miles

Rose and packed up camp and finally left the park, over a 3 -4 mile stretch the temperature drops from 23.5 to 20 and then rises to 25, bizarre. We are heading towards a border we are unsure whether we will be able to cross. If it is open it will save us at least 90 miles.
Lots more ripio, we have been on this for 3 days now and it seems to phase us less. We approach a small town off to our left and a few buildings on the cross roads with a barrier 50 metres ahead. We pull up by the barrier and an official waves us through and indicates for us to park. We then go to this building show our passports and hand in the temporary import document for the bikes and thats it, took about 3 minutes. So we are now out of Chile and head towards the Argentinean border which is 10k away. We arrive at this little outpost and clock in to migration, they have a power cut so no computers. Passports stamped and we walk 2 metres to custpms but no officials, we can smell food and hear voices but no one shows. The office looks like a front room, sofas, easy chairs, tv and dog lazing in front of the fire. We thought that perhaps they were waiting for4 the power to return but a coach driver just said ‘siesta’. After about half an hour nthis chap appears and 10 minutes later we are out of there.
During our wait we had started chatting to a couple of families with about 5 kids between them, they were also waiting for our official to show his face. They enquired about our trip and when said we were heading up to the North and going into Columbia they were really excited as that is where they were from, even one of the fathers who had so far been quite quiet started talking rapidly in Spanish and asking his wife to translate. We now have some more places to visit on our way through and apparently it is really beautiful, we will look forward to that.
Outside it was the normal routine of photos by the bike followed by photos on the bike, it would be quite profitable if we had a pound for each person who has sat on our bikes. It is fantastic for us to raise so much interest and everyone is so friendly and helpful, trucks and cars flashing us as we pass.
Moving on from the border we have a bit more ripio then tarmac, a gas station pops up out of nowhere so we top up as is our routine now. The Columbians call at the same station and then move on and we stop for a quick coffee.
Now we can do 150 miles on tarmac or 70 miles on ripio, and this is Route forty, we take the ripio and it is not bad at first but then we have boulders, or so it seems and finally, terra as the coach driver explained it, hard packed soil. Alexandro in Puerto Arenus had advised us to use this route but not if it had rained the previous day, the hard pack soil is extremely slippery after rain. It was no problem and sadly we sort of enjoyed doing the ripio on route 40, speed is up now to 50 -60 and it doesseem a liitle easier as we are keeping the front wheel light and it dsoesn’t wander as much.
On our way to El Calefate we reach an altitude of 750 metres, nothing strange about that other than we did not realise we had been climbing. We now have a fantasic view looking down towards a lake with the Andes as a backdrop, more photos, naturally and I unsuccessfully attempt a panoramic.

Now dropping 500 metres we arrive in El Calefate to get money and some provisions. Funnily enough we see the pimped Audi Quattro look alike we had seen on the other side of the country, we give him a toot and a wave. Now off to the campsite recommended by the German couple in Cerro Sombreroand we start on a ripio road. Martin asked if this was OK, its about 30 miles this way or 60 to go round, we always do ripio immediately after buying fresh eggs!!
Well we heading directly into the sun which is now low in the sky and a van came towards us and passed and we could not see anything for about 60 - 90 seconds. This is ridiculous, I am riding one handed and shielding my eyes against the sun with the other, no we will go the long way round. We eventually weave our way down to the road we should be on dirve again with the sun straight into our eyes. At least now we are not worried about the surface and there are no white outs as a vehicle goes by. Martin however is most put out for having travelled all the way round we now have 20 miles of ripio to do, thankfully without the sun. He later discovered that we did at least half of the route we were originally on, such is life, we are here now safe and sound.
Quite late now so we get the tents pitched and cook a meal as it gets dark. When in Ushuia darkness came at about 11pm, we are now moving North and it is dark by about 10.35.
Tomorrow, Moreno Glacier and we will stay the night in Calefate and try to catch up with some Wifi as we have been incommunicado for about 3 or 4 days now, also it is New Years Eve so we will see if we can find a few people to share the evening with.

29th December Torres del Paine 86 miles

This is a Natioal Park and one of the main features are the grite rocks formed into three towers, that is not the only attraction by any means. They have made a good job of setting out the park with ripio road for vehicles to follow and trailks for the backpackers with various campsites strategically placed so that you could walk for 6 hours and there is a campsite. There are enough trails for you to spend about a week hiking around here. From the various car parks there are short, or longer walks to take to see the various sites.
Having packed up we go towards Lago Grey, the ripio here is not too bad, or are we finally getting used to it, time will tell. We arrive at the car park and prepare to set out on a 45 minute walk, we thought we may do this in a t shirt and shorts, but our old friend the wind was blowing very hard and although it wasn’t cold, 24 degrees, with the wind chill it did warrent a jacket. The start of the walk was across a wooden suspension bridge so I had to take a photo of Martin to prove he had crossed it, he is a bit nervous when it comes to heights and little bridges. This walk was supposed to take 45 minutes and after 25 minutes through woodland we emerged onto what can best be described as a beach, well we must be fast walkers because this will not take 45 minutes.
As we cross the beach there is a blue, and it really is blue, iceberg, we cannot see the glacier yet. Traverse acroos the beach and we can see the glacier in the distance, a few photos and I then discovered a path leading up the side of the lake, after another 10 minutes, so it is a 45 minute walk, we emerge to a viewing gallery and 2 more icebergs have now come into view and we have walked right past the other one giving us a fantastic view.
I wont bore you withe the detail but an information board explains the difference between magma and lava and internal and external volcanos and subsequently how these rocks were formed some 12 – 13 million years ago.
Back on the bikes we move through the park and stop frequently to take photographs, it is absolutely stunning, some of the lakes are such a rich blue that you could be forgiven for thinking it unnatural. By 5.30pm we reach a campsite and discuss our options, stay her or go on another 15 miles and stop at the last campsite. 5.30 is a tad early so lets explore some more, 15 miles will only take about 30 minutes or so. Naturally more photos on route and we come across the most amazing waterfall, its fantastic, you will have to wait for the photos to see just how good it is. Onward to the campsite and we arrive 1 hour 40 minutes later, so much for half an hour. Guess what it’s closed, no signs, no former info at the previous sites such as you would have in a ski resort. Had we been walking we would have been completely stuffes, but the only thing we can do is back track to the other site the 18 miles it turned out to be.
We pitch our tents, again next to a river, fast moving this tim, Jo would love the sound of the water going by. Tonight we go to the hotel and have a drink and something to eat.
Tomorrow we leave the park and head back into Argentina, Martin doesn’t want to leave the park and I can see him coming back with his backpack one day to investigate further.

28th December Puerto Natales – Torres del Paine 89 miles

Well a slow start today, we were hoping to get away promptly having stayed in a hotel but on checking one of my panniers I had water in it, no harm done but it needs to be fixed. So after a mornings worth of faffing we finally get away and head for the town, gas up and look for an ATM. Having stopped for a photo of a large animal on a roundabout we meet 2 English girls who are backpacking and using buses to get around and apparently they saw us in Puerto Pirimades 12 days ago. They are heading up to Bariloche via Calafate, having told us where the ATM is we bid farewell. ATM found and sorted and on to the supermarket to provision up.
We head off towards Torres del Paine, some of you will know that this is mine and Martins desktop, gravel road with a BMW on it and snow capped mountains in the background. The ripio is not too bad but I rather stupidly have just put half a dozen fresh eggs in my pannier, could be scrambled eggs later. Even on the road in the views are stunning, lakes of green and blue, snow capped mountains in the distance and pine forests. Progress is quite slow as we must keep stopping and taking photos, it is fantastic. After 40 miles of ripio we arrive at the entrance to the park and stop off at the visitor centre. There is so much to see here so rather than pressing on and half doing everything we decide to camp for the night. We are near a glacier and we could drive to the road end a get a view but it is best to take a 45 minute walk once there to get the best viewpoint.
We are once again camped next to a river but this one is slow moving and silent unlike the one in Ushuia, but it does have ducks and ducklings on it. The facilities here are fantastic, we have a pitch for the tents, a bbq area and a log cabin with seating benches and a table in it including light and mains to charge our netbooks. Having cooked our meal Martin now discovers his backlight has gone on his netbook, not a lot we can do now, it will have to wait until we hit a city.

27th December Cerro Sombrero – (Just outside) Punto Natales 250 miles

Well what a day, talk about not go to plan.
Martin had suggested visiting Punto Arenas, being the most Southern city on the mainland and we decided it was not worth the detour, but every decision we were to make today drew us towards this city.
We left the campsite set on heading towards Punto Natales. One mile down the road we meet Fred who is still on his way to Ushuia and should be there today or tomorrow. Off to the gas station and there are two tankers lined up there with no action going on, after about 5 or so minutes a chap ambles over to us and said it will open in 1 hour. Been here before, 3 days ago we saw a similar level of activity and got the same amount of fuel.
We crack on to the ferry and get straight on and go and consume a hot dog and coffee as our brunch. Once off the ferry we once again battle with the wind, it is relentless and we have to slow a little or we will be blown off the road.
We do not have enough gas to get us to Punto Natales but there is at least one on the way. Here we are a single pump station, thank goodness, but don’t relax yet, they only accept Chilian Pesos, but we don’t have any of those as there has not been anywhere to obtain them since crossing the border. The guy in the gas station is very helpful and tells us where the next gas station is and yes they may accept Argentinean money or credit card. Well they don’t, this is the first time I have had an indication that I have 150 miles left in the tank and I am concerned.
Nothing left to do we must go to Punto Arenas. Now one other concern that we have is about tyres, we started with brand new tyres and the last back tyre I had in the UK lasted 6000 miles so these new tyres should get us to Santiago. No chance, my rear has done 3000 miles and is in the same state as my 6000 mile tyre, so tyres are another issue.
On entering Punto Arenas we go to the first establishment with a bit Goodyear banner, no they do not sell tyres for bikes but you could try here. Needless to say the search goes on until we find someone, who was the National Motocross champion in 2007 and 2008. Anyway he has a friend who has 2 tyres that will do. We drive to the friend using our pocket street map, on our first call a very kind lady asked if we would like a street map, yes that would be great, she then went off and came back with a poster.
Having arrived at the friends establishment it is a modern warehouse with all manner of tools and equipment and about 8 BMW bikes and a Honda Gold Wing trike, amongst other things. This chap, Alexandro looks after these bikes for a company who rents them out for tours and he transports them to wherever needed on a massive trailer he has. We end up buying the 2 rear tyres and have them fitted and keep the best as a spare, ditching my old spare we have been carrying since we left.
Having just got some cash from the bank Martin hands nearly all of it over for our tyres. We leave and gas up, card will be fine for that, and shame the guy who fitted the tyres didn’t take cards.
So gassed up and new rubber on the rear we are away, a hotel has been recommended by Alexandro some 106 kilometres away. No bother we hit the road and after 106 kilometres, no hotel, however after 106 miles there is the hotel and we think the confusion arose because it is 106 lkilometres to Punto Natales, what a way to give directions. We are however very grateful to Alexandro for his help and assistance.
Having pitched at the hotel the first issue is do they accept credit cards, no, oh what an anticlimax, swe will have to on to Punto Natales. After a brief discussion we establish that they will take Argentinian pesos, result, we are shown a room and told the kitchen is open until 10, no problem, we will park the bikes, take our bike gear off and eat, we are starving having only had 1 hot dog all day. We have a main course and that is it, we are not offered anything else. That’s fine, up to the bar for a digestive and a chat to the, not sure if he is the manager or not. It transpires that we are the only residents tonight, they will not be very, very is probably an exaggeration, busy until the new year. We ask about WiFi but it seems that they do not have electricity or telephone. They do have mains gas and a generator and satellite, amazing when one considers that in the UK virtually everywhere has electricity but some places do not have gas. Gas being a natural resource hear is obviously seen as a priority. We joke with him about wind power and wind farms, but he says that that requires a lot of investment, we say ‘but the return’.
So an eventful day that went completely against any plan we had but in the end turned out to be very productive and we are just 60 miles from where we anticipated we would be, not bad.

26th December Ushuia – Cerro Sombrero 269 miles

Packed up and left about midday and started to retrace our steps, this is the first time we have had to go back on ourselves but there is only one way in and out of Ushuia. No need to stop for photos this time and we are able to enjoy the scenery and winding roads through the mountains. As soon as we are through the mountains we are back to long straight roads with slight bends in them that you do not even need to slow down for. The transition is quite sudden and you could easily think that you had been transported to a different country.
After 80 miles we pass Frank finally heading to Ushuia, we stop and turn around but he is obviously desperate to get there and carries on relentlessly.
Once in Rio Grande we refuel the bikes and top up with water and head off towards the Chilean border. There are a couple of spots of rain but nothing to speak of, but this very gradually increases in intensity and I realise that the spray from the rear wheel has soaked through to my trousers. It is now chucking it down and Martin finally stops and I said ‘Too late’, we both acknowledge that if it had suddenly started to pour we would have stopped and put on waterproofs but it came on so gradually. The border crossing is just 2 or 3 miles down the road and we both dive in the toilets and change and waterproof up.
Paperwork done we come out and it has stopped raining, marvellous. Now on ripio for 80 miles and there are 2 ways of doing this, on the way down we did the East side, which is the one most of the lorries use. On the way back we take the West side, we had been told this was much better, certainly the first section was and we only saw one truck but the second section was very quite rough with quite a bit of washboard, but only about a dozen trucks so overall much better. This was also our first attempt at ripio in the wet, it does make a difference and everyone describes it as soapy, so very slippery.
We have stopped in this village having seen a sign for camping 7k ago and nothing since. Martin has asked several people and had responses giving directions and also negative no not round here, the last chap sorts us out and we find this field with two motor caravans and a football post at the far end. The access is down a very steep road. Down we go and a German couple introduce themselves and say the facilities leave a bit to be desired and no, no one seems to be in charge. We do a survey and find a wooden hut which used to be the showers and loos, I said to Martin, ‘there is a shower here’, he excitedly said ‘oh any hot water?’, and then looked at the remnants of the facilities.
We are pitched and have cooked ourselves a meal and will be on our way in the morning.
Our bikes are looking very second hand now having done ripio in the rain, they are filthy.

25th December Ushuia Round trip 42 miles

Christmas Day so the morning is touch base with our families at home and Skype seems to be working well enough to achieve our objective.
We have a brunch and keep looking at the rain, first time since we started in Buenos Aires on the first day. We need to go to the Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego, so set off in the rain on ripio. Having entered the park it is quite a trek to the end of the road, this is the end of Routa 3 and it is 3079 kilometres from Buenos Aires. We have done quite a bit more than that with our round trips and detours to various places.
On the way we pass many coaches who do extremely well to get down here as the road is narrow and very slippery due to the rain.
Having got to the end we have the obligatory photo by the sign with our bikes alongside. This attracts a lot of attention and many offers to take photos of us. We now realise why there were so many vouches, there is a cruise ship in Ushuia and they must have a flotilla of coaches ferrying everyone from the ship to the park. We met some an English couple from Brighton, a lot of Americans, Chinese and a very nice group from Mexico City, he has given me his card and said if we need anything or have a problem get in touch, how nice is that?
There are various trails to walk and hopefully see some wildlife such as beavers. We walk a few of these and apparently walk through an active beaver colony and there is certainly evidence with a massive dam and lots of cannibalised trees but unfortunately we did not see the actual animal, despite patience and perseverance.
Having taken quite a few photos we leave the park and head off for the ski area which is obviously up a winding road to a height of 300 metres and there is a lift and 1 run down with a descent height of 200 metres, that could get a little boring but probably great to start out. I understand there are other ski areas nearby but we do not leave a calling card.
A quick spin around the town and we see the cruise ship disembarking and they are on their way to the next port.
Back to the campsite for Christmas dinner, interestingly it would seem that most of Europe and probably South America celebrate Christmas Eve and not Christmas Day, so it is a lot quieter here this evening. Having opened our packages we have a Christmas pudding, thanks to the Tolleys, and Jack Daniels and some crackers, so off to enjoy.