(December 6 – written by “Just Dave”) Today was day one of our four-day “last stretch” of the Carretera Austral.  No issues.  The road surface was a bit bumpy but we are used to that.  Climbing today was not as bad as it was the last couple days so we didn’t arrive shattered for a … Continue reading Day one – Cochrane to Under trees near creek (64k, 25,488k/3,300ft)

(December 5 – written by “Just Dave”) First a note about the name of the town that we are staying in and being native English speakers.  Nancy and I (and Joe and Sarah who are from the UK), have been pronouncing the name Cochrane as “Cock-ren”, just as anyone would who is from a native … Continue reading Cochrane (Co-cra-ne) and the route ahead…

(December 4 – written by “Just Dave”) Today was a really hard day.  It wasn’t our longest riding day of the trip.  It wasn’t the most climbing we’ve done in a day.  The weather was generally fine to great.  We still had one of our lowest average speeds of the entire trip and we were … Continue reading Rio Baker ramble – Cerro Colors Camping to Cochrane (63k/k, 25,424k/3,750ft)

(December 3 – written by Nancy – just plain ‘ole Nancy, as I don’t think it’s necessary to remind everyone I made the 10k mark first...) Today turned out to be a lovely day for a bike ride in Patagonia.  We actually both got hot riding under the intense sun – not sure I remember … Continue reading More blue skies (yeah!) – Puerto Rio Tranquilo to Cerro Colors Camping (54k/k, 25,361k/3,100ft)

(December 2 – written by “10K Dave”) We’ve had a quiet day here in Rio Tranquilo.  We got some important chores done however.  Nancy’s Rohloff shift lever has been sticking, so we worked on that.  My watch band broke the other day so we MacGyver’d that back together.  We studied the history of Rio Tranquilo … Continue reading Rio Tranquilo relaxing

(December 1 – written by “10K Dave”) More blue, more smiles, another great day – life is good. We came over a pass yesterday and rode down a river to where we camped last night.  Today we continued down that river to Largo General Carrera.  I sort of assumed that today’s views would be more … Continue reading Snow capped views continue – Doña Dora Campground to Rio Tranquilo (39k/25,306k, 1,760ft)

(November 30 – written by “10K Dave”) Today was a blue/blew day. Overnight the wind blew through our shelter with abandon.  We hunkered down in our tent, knowing we’d be riding straight into a gale come morning.  We woke however to brilliant blue skies.  It actually cleared overnight and we had great starry views in … Continue reading Blew skies –Los Nires Campground to Doña Dora Campground (72k/25,267k, 2,450ft)

(November 29 – written by “10K Dave”) It was very quiet in our little forest hut overnight.  We could hear the wind from time to time, but there was never any rain.  I was pretty sure that the roof would not leak but I was also more than happy not to test things.  We were … Continue reading Wind at Cerro Castillo – Laguna Chiguay to Los Nires Campground (48k/25,195k, 2,050ft)

(November 28 – written by “10K Dave”) It was hard leaving Coyhaique this morning - we enjoyed the break and know that some of the things we found there, like good coffee, will be harder to find for the next few weeks.  Having said that, another morning with blue skies was pretty inviting for a … Continue reading Mountain day – Coyhaique to Laguna Chiguay (60k/25,058k, 4,050ft)