It gets bright here at 5 o clock. This morning however it had gone six when I woke-up and so I consider that I overslept. Because, although the hours of daylight are long, nevertheless it's important to rise at dawn in order to be ahead of the possibility of debilitating strong wind, which can rise from late-morning onwards, and can mean inability to ride faster than walking pace or worse still being forced to lay-down by the roadside unable to stand up, such is the strength of the wind in Patagonia.

There remains about 140km to Puerto Madryn. And that distance is frightening if the wind rises as there's nothing out there, no shelter wherein to pitch a tent and no water. The best you can hope for is that it'll be a calm day, or at lease if it starts to get windy, that it doesn't become too strong.

I quickly get out of the sleeping-bag and rushed to be on the road by seven. I bough media lunas(croissants) at the service-station shop as I'd only porridge and it takes too much time to prepare and eat, whereas pastries can quickly be wolfed down with a cup of tea.

The wind this morning has shifted around to my right but as yet it is nothing, just a bluster on my side.

This morning I enter a new province, Chubut, and therefrom the road which hitherto had been shoulder-less, now has a wide paved shoulder wherein I can relax. The passing trucks are now at a save distance.

The initial few kilometres of Chubut is a gentle sweeping uphill to a summit, thereafter the road ahead is flat with minimal bumps to traverse. The scrub is a milk-chocolate brown to a far horizon.

At some point the morning became dull and looking up I see dark blue cloud enveloping the whole sky from the West. In that direction all was a brown haze. I still had to eat lunch and so I stop at a lone leafy bush which provided shelter from the increasing West wind. Though lunch would be quick, a half packet of biscuits and a litre of Pepsi. But not quick enough as the wind got stronger and the brown haze could be seen now from my shelter crossing the road from whence I come like billows of smoke.

I needed to get going again. It was lucky that the road had this wide shoulder as it would be unthinkable to ride otherwise, as I struggled now against fearful crosswind trying to push me fatally out across the road. I steered and held on as best I could, seemingly for dear life, keeping on the shoulder while the wind pushed sideways on my wheels. There was a lip up from the shoulder to the road which was a little higher and was of some help at stopping the bike being pushed into the road.

The brown haze remained all this time behind me and then it moved off further East taking with it the strong wind. The rain then began to fall and again I'm thankful for the ample shoulder, otherwise I would've been near invisible in the gloom and have to endure the spray of passing trucks.

The rain, though, was only to last an hour and then there was a strip of blue sky and a bank of cloud glowing red in the sun off to the West. Nevertheless, the dark blue gloomy afternoon lasted as I descended down to the city of Puerto Madryn.

Heart

0

Comment

0

Link

Log in to comment or reply