Thursday 9 March 2023 – 496Km
Todays ride is elevated into my top few ever rides, the gravel roads were a challenge in parts, never mundane, always great fun, the sun was shining and to top it all the views were spectacular.
The storms over the last few days had left their mark on the road and repair teams had been out making good the damage. In my experience road works and storm or weather damage are often the most challenging part of riding gravel roads, it’s there unpredictable that can catch you out. I only saw one road repair team that stopped me as they loaded a lorry with debris from a rock fall. Once they saw we were a group of motorcyclists they stopped the digger and let us squeeze through a very narrow gap between a rock face and the lorry. A cheery wave and a thumbs up from the road workers and I was back riding the fabulous gravel road.
Back to the road, the views across lake General Carrera with the sun shining on the mountains was stunning, a very special and memorable ride along this particular gravel road heading to Argentina from Chile.
Unfortunately one of my fellow riders missed a turning not long after leaving last nights accommodation at Mallin Colorado. Because we were on hired bikes and some of everyones luggage was on the support vehicle this meant a 3.5 hour wait for him to get back on route and catch us up. We needed to leave Chile and enter Argentina together so we had the bike papers that travelled in the support vehicle and we were each responsible for our luggage if customs wanted to check it. A boring wait for us which wouldn’t have been half as bad as his extra 200Km dash under pressure knowing we were all waiting for him. The main thing is he arrived save and sound, tired and low on fuel.
After crossing the border I headed South along a road I travelled a few years ago, it was a warmer afternoon this time and the cafe along the way had some fuel to sell, good job as the next fuel station is a long ride in the morning.
The 30Km of gravel road to Estancia that is our accommodation tonight is one of the worst roads I have ever travelled, just like last time. The gravel was very deep, wheelings from previous vehicles were very narrow and it needed intense concentration to keep the bike in them and prevent a spill.
We arrived late at the Estancia and had to rush to to get ready for dinner. With the help of red wine and a traditional lamb dinner cooked over an open fire I soon recovered from a tiring day.
