We are cycling down the Carretera Austral in southern Chile.  We started from Puerto Montt and cycled to Coyaique.  I wrote about this part of our trip in the previous blog which shows a map of the whole route.  This blog covers our trip from Coyaique south to Villa O’Higgins at the end of the Carretera Austral.

Coyaique to Cerro Castillo National Park campsite

We had a comfortable and quiet  couple of nights in Coyhaique but it was nice to be on the move again this morning.  My bike felt very heavy as we had bought too much food in the large supermarket and my food bag barely shut.  We stopped for snacks along the way to solve that problem.   I am always amazed at how quickly a packet of biscuits ends up empty when Bernie is left in charge of it.  Mind you after 46 years of marriage I should be used to it.

We got to the small village of El Blanco after about 30 km and sat outside the shop reducing our load still more.  Just around the corner in an old building was the Mate Museum.  It was small but fascinating.  Not only did it have a large display of different gourds for Mate, but it looked as though someone had emptied their great grandparents house and brought in all the old records and players, old metal irons, film reel, alarm clocks and all sorts.

But we couldn’t delay the climb any longer.  Bernie could see we had to go up 400 m to get to the campsite on the pass.  But of course this didn’t take into account all the 50m drops we did as well.  So it was about 600 or 700 m in the end.  We passed a couple of heavily loaded cyclists on the way up and I could tell from her face that the hill wasn’t going to happen.  I know just what she felt like, but there was nothing we could do to help.

We eventually made it to the top and rolled down a gravel track to the official park campsite.  During the registration  she told us about the Hantavirus that is being spread by mice so all food kept sealed and no rubbish, but also they had seen a Puma here yesterday, now that would be exciting.  We were told how to behave if we met it.

We had lovely hot showers.  I realised afterwards that the ranger was shovelling wood into a burner to heat the water while I was in there.  Hopefully it will be a peaceful stay.

Cerro Castillo NP Campsite to Las Nires Campsite

I slept really well in our little forest glade.  Somehow a relaxed breakfast meant that we didn’t get away until nearly 10.  It had been cool in the forest but out on the road it turned into a bit of a scorcher, going from 19C when we set out up to 36 C by lunchtime.

Initially we dropped down 200 m but then had another 300 m to climb before the big descent into Villa Cerro Castillo.   The views on the way down were amazing, and I was really pleased we weren’t going the other way as it was very steep.  There were quite a few other cyclists on the road today who we variously passed or were passed by on the hills.

There was a really nice restaurant in the village were we got some salmon and stir fried vegetables, and more importantly time out of the strong sun and even stronger headwind.

There was a big climb again after lunch and the wind was getting stronger, but everyone stopped at the top to take in the view of jagged snowy peaks with the verdant valley and river below. 

We stopped before everyone else at the Las Niras campsite that had good reviews on iOverlander2 where it was mentioned that it was run by an old couple who lived here before the Carretera Austral was built.  It turned out that the ‘Old Couple’ were the same ages as us, and their grandchildren were the same ages as ours.

As it was still blowing a gale, after a hot shower we paid extra to cook in their fondo and spend time sitting inside along with boxes of plums and apricots destined to be made into marmalada and sold to passing campers.  There are also chickens, a noisy cockerel,  dogs and horses here.

Las Nires campsite to Chelenko Hot Springs Hotel

Oh what a day, I am totally exhausted.  How hard today was came as a bit of a surprise.  It all started well.  It was a nice day and we were packed up and on the go by 8.45 as we set off up a 100 m hill.  This wasn’t too bad although the headwind, that would be the feature of the day, was just getting into it’s stride. We noticed one volcano top seemed to be smoking a bit, but nothing to worry about we hoped.

After about 10 km we came to the end of the pavement and for the rest of the day we were on ripio (gravel).  The whole section of road that we did today was in the process of being graded.  So initially we had large stone gravel about 6 inches deep that was exhausting to cycle though.  Then we met the first grader and for a short while all was great.  But it didn’t last.  The wash board surface and deep gravel returned.  The next grader had broken down so it never improved. 

There were amazing views, and we managed to find a grassy field on the shady edge of a wood to have our lunch away from the dust.  But being a Friday the road was full of traffic, all being driven much too fast spitting stones out of their wheels and sending up clouds of dust.  It was very unpleasant and reminded us why we had stopped at Puerto Montt 7 years ago.  I found I was no longer looking at the view but just at the stones under our wheels and the cars.

Finally we got to the top and started a wonderful descent.   Then for the last 15 km the road water truck had thoroughly wet the road so it was smooth and with no dust.  But he hadn’t finished and we came to a road work stop sign, and along with a queue of cars and 8 other cyclists we sat on the side of the road for 30 minutes until he had finished.

We decided to stay at the Hot Springs Hotel that was on the side of the road.  We hadn’t been able to book it in advance but as only one other person was staying they had plenty of rooms, even if they could do with a good clean.  On talking to Patrick the other guest it turns out that the hot Springs are an hours walk from here and really wonderful.  Unfortunately my legs just wanted to lie down.

What I hadn’t realised as we wandered into the hotel to ask about rooms was that we both looked like pandas when we took our sunglasses off.  Our faces were  covered in black dust. 

Chelenko Hot Springs Hotel to Puerto Rio Tranquilo

Today was so much more enjoyable that yesterday.  Now the Friday changeover holiday traffic had got to wherever they had to rush to at breakneck speed the world returned to normal.  There was less than half the traffic on the road and half of them were considerate, slowing down to produce less dust.  Last time we cycled in Chile, seven years ago, the bus drivers were terrifying,  but now they and the lorry drivers are really careful as they pass, giving us lots of room and slowing right down.

The scenery today was amazing from the start and got better once we got to Largo General Carrera, which is the biggest lake in Chile at 970 km².  As we had a deep blue sky with some fluffy cumulus today the lake reflected those colours and was lined with snow topped mountains.  Around the edge green alpine meadows some full of bright yellow buttercups.

For some reason I had thought that as our road went right around the edge of the lake that it would be flat.  But it undulated madly, and at one point was so steep we had to push.  Luckily that hill had herringbone bricks laid so it wasn’t as hard as it could have been.

Puerto Rio Tranquilo itself was a tourist mecca with boat touts trying to fill up their trips out to see the Marble Caves, and lines of people marching along the quay in life jackets.   That last detail was reassuring as we have a trip on a boat booked for tomorrow morning.

After a long drawn out lunch where our order seemed to disappear into a black hole we found our cabin for the next two nights.  Very nice and quiet if a little hot.    Some relaxing time is in order now.

Visiting the Marble Caves

We still had to be up at our normal time even though it was our day off as we had a boat trip booked to see the Marble Caves.  Luckily the wind overnight had dropped, and unlike the weather forecast it was sunny through a thin film of cloud.  At least this morning.  The more threatening, black clouds turned up this afternoon.

Once on the boat we roared off at quite a speed, foam and spray flying until we got to the Marble area.  Our guide all the time getting very excited and funny according to the only Spanish speaking couple on the boat.   We had all booked an English speaking guide but it didn’t matter as he was fun to watch.  We were lucky the sun was still shining, and low in the sky, as the light penetrated into the caves and glowed on the white marble under the water.  We really enjoyed the trip which lasted about 1.5 hours.

Puerto Rio Tranquilo to Cerra Calor, Filomena’s campsite

It had rained fairly heavily yesterday evening and overnight, enough for the restaurant we were in to lose power and the temperature to drop dramatically.   That had all moved on this morning but it was still nice and cool, between 15 – 19 C until lunch time.

It was a big climb up out of Puerto Rio Tranquilo but it had flat bits on the way up so didn’t seem too onerous and the ripio was in good condition.   It was lovely cycling for about 43 km alongside the lake in the hazy sunshine with very little traffic.  We stopped on a bank for a snack with the most wonderful views and again for lunch in a similar place.

We had decided yesterday to do shorter distances now we were on ripio but the cycling today seemed easier so we set our sights on reaching Filomena’s campsite, Cerro Color, as everyone has told us it’s a great place to stay. 

There were occasional sections of loose gravel where the graders were working but generally it was OK and we reached Filomena’s about 3 pm.  We decided to book ourselves into one of the cabins.  Four of them were already full so we got the last one, the new one. 

Despite being in the middle if nowhere we had much better facilities here than we have had anywhere else, with piping hot showers, a full kitchen, and comfy bed and all spotlessly clean.  We have even ordered a home cooked supper of local lamb, home grown salad and homemade bread.  Can’t wait!

Cerro Calor to Cochrane

We had a wonderful, if rather meaty, supper last night with 3 great knuckles of lamb each with salad and homemade bread.  This morning we seemed to be a bit more efficient than normal, luckily as it turns out.  Yesterday the other cyclists had been bigging up how difficult the road to Cochrane was with terrible surfaces and dust.  It had rained heavily overnight which would sort out the dust problem.

As we were about to leave I stuck my head in the eating area to say goodbye to the others and discovered that the road to Cochrane will be shut today from about 25 km to 43 km from where we were, as they were blowing up the cliffs to widen the road at Confluencia.  It would shut at 11 am and not open again until 4 pm.  It was then 8 am and we thought we could make it through if we put our heads down, big hills and gravel not withstanding.

The first hill came immediately and, like all the others, seemed endless.  All the dust had turned to sludge mud after the rain and looked quite slippery.  Amazingly, as we passed Puerto Bertrand the road turned to tarmac for 8 km and we started to make good time.

By this time we were cycling next to the wide, fast and very blue Rio Baker so we did stop for some fast photos.  At 10 am, with burning leg muscles, we arrived at the start of the road works and were back on ripio.  There were no signs about the road closing later and many motorists were casually stopping to look at the view as we sped past.

We saw and heard them drilling holes for the explosives at the top of the tall rock faces, and passed areas they had already done.  We were hoping we could get through the whole 17 km of the roadworks before 11, but it was a very steep section, both up and down, and the road surface was deeply sludgy where the heavy rock laden lorries had been back and forth.  They had so many people working the site.  We had hoped they would just be working one end, but they were doing the whole length at once.

We had got to 3 km from the end before we met our first obstacle.  It was 3 mins to 11 and we got stuck in a 15 min stop/go area.  But once through we raced down the steep muddy hill to the end, where our very, very tired legs were met by a big hill.  Considering we had thought of reducing our whole days to 40 km we didn’t do badly doing 43 km by 11 am.

Finally, at the top we sat on a rock and had an early lunch.  Avocado, cheese and ham wraps seemed to help.  Especially when we discovered this wasn’t actually the top.  It was a day of endless hills.  Now the clouds had lifted and we had great  views.   But, pleasantly we had the road to ourselves as they had shut the road behind us.

We eventually rolled into  Cochrane about 2 pm and surprised Alexandra our cabin host by being so early,  but it wasn’t a problem.  Chores done we headed out in to little  Cochrane and bumped in to Cassie and other cyclists who had hitched a ride through the road works.  It seems only us oldies cycled the whole way!

ATM and supermercado visited we are now collapsed in a shady cafe eating chocolate and raspberry tart and drinking coffee and Rosa Mosqueta tea, my latest favourite.

Cochrane to Patagona Paraiso homestay

I must have used more of my reserves than I thought yesterday as there seemed to be very little power in my legs  today.  It was raining as we were about to set out this morning,  but by the time we had got our waterproofs on it had stopped for the day.  It was cool though, only 10 C, which was good as we would be climbing for most of the day.  The bad thing was the strong head wind that got stronger as the day went on.

It all started well as we kept the tarmac  for 15 km after leaving town which was unexpected.   But once we were on the ripio, gravel, the washboard was really terrible and a lot of the time impossible to avoid.  I found the combination of the wind and washboard exhausting, and really struggled to keep my legs turning.  We stopped for several snacks and had lunch lying among some shrubs at the side of the road, out of the wind, but I felt that I was running on empty.

We had been heading for a wild camp that we could see on iOverlander2 at about 60 km, but I didn’t think I could go that far.  So we stopped at Patagonia Paraiso which turned out to be a bit unusual.  It advertised itself as camping and rooms, but once we had got past the old broken cars all the land was too overgrown for camping.   So we asked if they had a room.  In the small house the flies were flying around the dinning area.  She showed us into a room a little bigger than the bed.  The frosted, perspex windows don’t open and the door doesn’t fully shut.  At this time of year they don’t have much water.  There are lots of buckets in the bathroom and I think she will heat a bucket of water for us to wash in.  I think they fill the toilet cistern from a bucket too but my Spanish was lagging several sentences behind at this point.  By this time  we were both wishing we had gone on to the wild camp but it would have been rude to back out and they were so welcoming.

She made us tea and coffee and produced some bread, cheese and cold meat.  Then we chatted to her for a hour, once we had finally got her to slow down.   Chilenos speak so fast.  We sometimes got the gist of what she was saying and joined in, and sometimes not when we just smiled encouragingly.  I was already very tired and the concentration required for a conversation in Spanish was exhausting.

We did discover that they have no electricity during the day but turn on their generator between 8 and 11 pm, and she will also make us supper.  They certainly have an interesting life here especially in the winter when they have too much water.

Patagonia Paraiso to Tortel

Yesterday evening a group of five cyclists from Italy, Spain, Germany and some other places turned up.  We had met them all before at various places.  They camped out the side and one of them, a teacher who has worked as a chef in the holidays used the kitchen to cook them all up a meal.  Our hostess, Margot,  had somehow conjured up an amazing meal for us.  A big salad and the ubiquitous fried dough balls then a huge plate of tender lamb with potatoes and vegetables followed by an enormous piece of watermelon.  We were just munching through this when a young English couple turned up.  So it was a really full house with buckets of water being heated on the solid fire stove for everyone to have a good bowl wash, and it turned out to be a great evening.

After a hearty breakfast we were the first away this morning.  It was cool and started to gently rain after a bit which nicely damped down the ripio and stopped the dust.  The washboard didn’t seem quite so bad today either and there was only a gentle head wind.  So all in all it was a good cycle, made even better by the lack of big hills.

We stopped off midmorning for coffee at what used to be a food truck but is now slowing turning into a big restaurant with hotel rooms.  I was in seventh heaven cycling through natural Nothofagus forests with the massive trees lining the road.  I do seem to have lots of pictures of trees that I probably won’t bore you with, possibly just one or two.  More heartbreaking was all the slash and burn gaps in the forest.   We noticed some men collecting something from these now very boggy gaps.  I had a look in the bags they had put along the roadside for collection and they were full of sphagnum moss.  I asked about it in town later and was told that after it is dried, (we saw the polly tunnels with it spread out on tables), it is sent to China to be used in horticulture and for growing Orchids.  The Chinese are also researching it’s use for controlling oil spills.  After they have finished harvesting the moss the trees start to regrow but it will take a very long time before the forest re-establishes itself.

We got to Tortel by 4pm only to discover that the ferry we had hoped to take to Yungay had left a little earlier and there was only one a week.  We managed to find a room in a hotel we could access without taking the bikes up 100’s of steps as the whole town is built on stilts and board walks.  Our room is a little damp and cold but that is the nature of a place built on a bog.

After a nice meal we decided our legs weren’t up to exploring a place like this today so we are going to stay a second night.  This has the added advantage of not being on the road on a Friday which are always horrible with too much traffic.

A day off in Tortel

We decided to have a lazy day off in Tortel. We walked a couple of kilometres along the board walks around the cliff to the other part of town, being careful not to step in any dog muck or on rotten planks.  Most of the wooden planks on the main walkway were OKish but there were a lot of side shoots either going up to houses or up the hill that looked really rotten and dangerous.  In fact many of the stilts the houses were built on looked as if they were on their last legs.  It must be a difficult place to live.

Tortel to La Maria Campsite via the ferry from Puerto Yungay to Rio Bravo

We were up and away early this morning as we knew we had a big hill to climb on the way to the Yungay ferry.  The 22 km back to the junction wasn’t as bad as we remembered and we were there by 10.  Then the climbing began.  It was very steep to start with switch backs but luckily there was almost no traffic at that point so we could take the easiest line around the steep sharp bends.  But after that it turned into an easier gradient, so we settled into a slow rhythm in bottom gear going about 4 km/hr (2.5 mph).

The scenery on the way up was fantastic.  We were cycling up a steep canyon with rocky, wooded sides and a river noisily plunging down below.  No pictures of this bit as I wouldn’t be able to start again if I stopped to take a picture.

We got to the first top quicker that expected, but from there it repeatedly went down and up for another 10 km before plunging down steeply to the Yungay ferry.   Here we found a surprisingly long queue of cars that must have been waiting a long time as they hadn’t passed us on the road, and most of them still didn’t get on this tiny ferry.  It was organised chaos, as dust covered cars and the odd lorry had to reverse down onto the ferry and park with only an inch between them.  We went on with the motorbikes right at the end.  The ferry was away as soon as we were on, moving very slowly.  We thankfully sat down on soft seats inside as we slowly inched our way down the fjord.  After an hour it was everyone off again.

The next 20 km to the La Maria Campsite was flat and easy so we arrived, almost first, at about 2.30.  Thankfully we can pay by card as our cash is getting a bit low, and we can get dinner and breakfast.   But best of all, after a hot shower I found Maria taking a tray of bread rolls out of the oven.  These together with home made cherry jam and tea just hit the right spot.  Lots of other cyclists turned up during the afternoon, many we had met before.

La Maria Campsite to Refugio Las Raices Eco-bunkhouse

The whole Campsite was up early as the others were hoping to make it over the steep hills to Villa O’Higgins 85 km away as they had a ferry booked for the following day.  Luckily our ferry is not for 3 days so we decided to stop after 55 km at an Eco Bunkhouse, which as it turns out was quite far enough for our tired legs.

The scenery was probably the best yet, with snowy mountains, massive rocky terrain, glaciers and their associated waterfalls tumbling down the mountain side and all set off by a brooding black sky with interesting shaped clouds.   Just after we got to the Eco Site the sky stopped brooding and started to pour with rain.  We did ask at the site if we could put up our tent rather than sleep in the bunk house but they suggested the strong wind would be a problem, and sure enough when the rain came it began to blow. 

There are great facilities here, log fired hot water showers and cooking, and a warm comfortable room to relax.

Refugio Las Raices to Villa O’Higgins and the End of the Carretera Austral

It was some  night and a good introduction to how strong the wind is going to be as we head further south.  I think it was gusting about 50 mph.  I was on the top bunk, very close to the roof that sounded like it was about to come off.  The whole bunkhouse was shaking along with our bunks which were attached to the walls.  And the noise  of everything rattling and banging was deafening.  To be honest I didn’t get much sleep, but at least we had warm sleeping bags unlike the others who looked very cold in the morning.

We had ordered eggs and bread for breakfast, which arrived freshly collected from the garden and we cooked them and toasted the buns on the range which had been lit a little earlier.   It was so cosy in there we didn’t really want to leave.

Finally packed and on the bikes it was a cold 9 C but the wind,  not so strong now, was behind us.  We had rain for a while but left our waterproofs on afterwards for extra warmth.   I was just thankful that the forecast possible snow didn’t materialise.  It was a gently undulating 32 km to Villa O’Higgins,  but it seemed further as my legs were having a bad day and it was cold.  Scenery was still great, even in the misty drizzle.

Finally we rolled into Villa O’Higgins.   I knew it was going to be small, but it looked smaller, like an early frontier town.  It was nearly lunch time and we were cold and hungry so we headed straight to the hotel I had booked using WhatsApp.   I am not sure what planet I was on  when I did the booking, but I had booked for tomorrow!  He was very good about it and booked us in for 2 nights, and although they don’t open until 3 pm he sold us a fruit juice to keep us going until we found lunch.  This proved incredibly difficult.   Everything was shut.  We cycled twice round the town, it didn’t take long,  and even joined a queue of families at an information kiosk getting certificates for making it to the end of the Carretera Austral in their cars, just to ask about where we could get fed.  Everyone kept pointing out of town.  So we headed back out and finally found a restaurant that was going to open at 1 pm, 5 mins. 

As we went in the smell of lamb fat turned my stomach, but the starter and pudding and hot chocolate were great.  I just couldn’t face the large lump of lamb in the  middle.   But it was somewhere warm to wait until our hotel will let us in.

The other problem with getting my dates confused is that we are now going to be here for two whole days before our ferry leaves on the 12th, and we have already seen everything here.  We eventually got into our room, and its amazing how much better a hot shower makes you feel.

We have found it an amazing journey cycling down the Carretera Austral.  We have met so many lovely people, both local and other travellers, and have really enjoyed ourselves.  It has been tough at times but we were really lucky with the wonderful weather we have had.  So far we have cycled 1054 km and climbed 17,624 m.  We are now continuing south and this will be covered in my next blog.  Please get on touch if you have any questions.