September 13, 2010
First day's cycle in Uruguay.: The perfect day, well almost.
Thur 9th Sep. Paysandu to plantation near Guichon. 107km.
It was nine o clock when I cycled back to the municipal camping site near the river. The loud music and noise from earlier in the evening had now ceased on the adjoining plot. It was now wonderfully peaceful. The street lights meant I didn't need to use my head torch. It was a good place to camp as it was a short cropped grass park with great big eucalyptus trees. I placed the tent in the dark shadow of a thick trunk tree on the riverbank and slept as soon as I got in the sleeping bag.
It was yet another brilliant spring morning with chirping birdsong and I's on the road at eight. On such a nice morning I didn't want to be riding back through the traffic of Paysandu so I cycled North along the river bank then East orbiting the city in the green countryside around adding ten Ks more than if I'd cycled through the city. I finished my orbit on national route 3 southbound.
Uruguay is a small country in comparison with neighbouring Argentina. It would fit inside the province of Buenos Aires and there would still be piles of space remaining, so it's divided into relatively small departments instead of provinces.
Looking at my map I didn't want to take route 3 directly to Montevideo. I wanted to take a more meandering route either near the river or inland. I chose the later as the map shows a string of lakes though they may actually some of them be reservoirs in the heart of the country. So after an hour avoiding the city I turned East on to Department road 90 towards Guichron.
I've noticed already that the service stations are quite small here and there's no such thing as a cafeteria at them. I stopped at one shortly after turning on to route 90. The woman in the shop said they didn't serve coffee but wanted to sell me granualated coffee instead. 'No thanks' I said politely and left. So there'll be no more service station stops for a while instead I'll be pick-nicking by the roadside now that the weather is warmer.
The countryside or at lease in the morning was just as I thought, similar to Ente Rios, small farms and pretty rolling countryside. The traffic was extremely light which was a change from Argentina where there's so many trucks on the road or if there isn't there's cars whizzing past non-stop. Yes, so far Uruguay is a pleasant surprise.
Further on as it approached time to stop for lunch the landscape was transformed till forest plantations. I's thinking there won't be any problem fining a place to camp later if this forestry land continues but I thought it's usual to see great camping opportunities during the day and none at all when needed in the evening.
It was so far a marvellous days ride the only annoying things was the front mech was not lifting the chain from the middle up on to the big ring and there were now allot of logging trucks which disturbed the tranquility of it but nevertheless they gave me lots of space when passing.
By evening though things were to go a bit pear-shaped. After a road junction for a place called Young, the forest ended and thereafter it was open moorland grazing and wheat fields. It was just as I'd thought earlier in the day, lots of camping spots during the day, none in the evening when needed. It was nice countryside though of ponds, meandering streams and hillsides with rocky outcrops. There just wasn't many trees to hide a tent.
I reached a village called Thermos A something which had a camping site but there was still over an hour till dark and besides I still thought it possible to fine a free camping site, so I kept going.
As I approached the town of Guichron there were more and more houses and even less chance of finding a place to camp. I was looking to take route 4 from Guichron but the only road I could find going in roughly my direction was another road to a place called Penaro, so I took it as the sun was setting and it led away from the houses out onto moorland with woodland. There were even quite a few palm trees on the moor silhouetted against the evening sky.
As I cycled along I's approaching a grove of trees on a hillside. It was taking quite some time getting there as the road was unpaved and very rough in places. I's sure this would be the place but when the road eventually drew level a farm house was revealed amongs the trees. So I kept going towards woodland that was now visable in the distants. The sun had set and it would soon be dark but the after light was still enough to show me the way.
On the road ahead I saw what I thought was a car or something flashing it's lights but when I got nearer I relised it was flames. The low scrub along the road and parts of the adjoining moor were on fire.
Passing the fire I eventually reached the plantation and un-coupled the bob-trailer from the bike for the lift over a locked gate. I camped 200 metres from the road beyond that it was out onto the moor and as there was not any under growth in the forest I's visable from the road if I used my head torch. There were logging trucks passing regulary so I waited but seeningly they must drive round the clock. Eventually I could wait no more and put the torch on to cook dinner.
Today's ride: 108 km (67 miles)
Total: 1,796 km (1,115 miles)
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