January 29, 2018
Cochrane: Best ripio yet (again)
We were on the road by nine o'clock this morning. Both of us were keen to get to Cochrane where we plan to have a day or two of rest. We knew there were a few hills ahead of us and we didn't know what the condition of the road would be. As it turned out, the hills were tough at times but the road surface was excellent for most of the way which, with the mostly on our backs, made for an easier ride than we expected.
A couple of kilometers out of the camp we stopped to take a walk down a path to see the confluence of the Neff and Baker rivers. The merging of the browner water from the Neff with the blue glacial water from the Baker is quite amazing.
After that it was a matter of taking on the hills and heading for Cochrane. Somehow the views still blow my mind. The scenery has changed once again and the environment looks a lot harsher here.
About eight kilometers out of Cochrane we stopped for a long conversation with Rob and Aaron, two cycle tourists from Cornwall who are cycling from South America's lowest point below sea level to its highest point. It turns out that they are big rugby fans as well. Bath, the Premier league team near them, has a big contingent of South Africans playing for them so we had a lot of rugby stuff about which to natter. Aaron was carrying his skateboard with him - no chance of skating on the ripio of the Careterra Austral! They suggested we check out the Hostal Sentral in Cochrane, which is what we did, and we will be spending the next few nights here recuperating and catching up on work stuff.
Today's ride: 40 km (25 miles)
Total: 952 km (591 miles)
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