Wed 26th Oct: Punta Mattos to Rio Percy

October 26, 2016

Kazu doesn´t get up this early, neither do I. This is the evening before in the dark. Kazu shouts out "ooh, no flash!" No I had turned the ISO right up for the dark, hence the terrible noise.

When I mentioned the mouse to Kazu this morning, he laughed and said "Three mouse, running round your tent."

Though none got into the tent, I think, as no food packaging has been nibbled.

Kazu told me he starts at seven, so I was up about seven. I was the first up. There was no sign of Kazu, not until near eight.

It's a frosty morning and it is well after eight when the sun rises up over the hills and warms things up. The first thing Kazu does is lift his tent out of the shade of the trees into the sun to dry. My tent on the other hand is already dry, whether it is because I've ventilated it well, or what. It has a spacious outer tent for cooking in, something I'm grateful for on cold mornings. Kazu's tent is a small dome without an outer tent department, so he has to cook outside.

We set off about nine from our free campsite at Punta Mattos, riding another 20 kilometres along the lakeshore of Lago Futelaufquen. Although Kazu is riding a mountain bike, he is not enjoying the stony gravel road, even though it is in a well-consolidated condition. He can't wait for the tarmac road to begin. There is just one short section where the grader has just passed, leaving a chaos of small loose stones and soft soil in it's wake.

We soon cover the short distance and reach the head of the lake where the tarmac begins. We would split up here. Kazu would leave the park. I had been talking about cycling on to Futelaufquen village, as I have all day to kill waiting for the person issuing tickets in the park entrance box to go home, so I can leave the park undetected. But Kazu now says "Oh! I go too." Then checks his GPS, and adds "There are three supermarkets in the village" something I find hard to believe, as I only expect a tiny place containing few houses. Perhaps an amacen, small shop, not an La Anomina.

A kilometre on from the tee off the road south out of the park, we reach the village, a few wood cabins and a national park centre, each in large plots enclose by broad leave trees. Not much sign of a shop, until we follow four men in olive green national park jerseys walking from the park centre along the street. They turn a corner and walk toward a small shop and enter. We enter just behind them and find it stocks nothing much that either of us need. The woman has sold out of bread. She has empanadas, so we buy five each and have an early lunch sat against the wall outside, while a dog looks on looking for a few morsels.

I would like to continue with Kazu this afternoon as we exchange contacts and say goodbye, but as I said, I need to wait until the person at the park entrance box has finished work and gone home, usually about 8 pm, in case they check to see that I have a ticket for the park. He tells me he will do a big shop in Esquel and continue south on route 40 and find somewhere to wild camp this evening.

My favourite photo in a long time. The hills make a nice wavy line backdrop.

And the blue with sparkling sunshine and wildlife detail. Another shot from the same spot.

Since midday, I've been sat in the sun on the grass bank up from the lakeshore catching up on some writing.

It isn't easy writing a radio program script, but it'll look better when it's all on the computer scream before me. The main problem I had, I hadn't quite got the inspirational spirit today.

I get a few chapters of my book read too during the afternoon with an occasional glance out over the placid blue water of the lake. Last time I's here, last December, the lake was grey and choppy, reflecting cold grey cloud cover while blowing a gale. But today there's not a cloud in the sky. No wind. Warm.

I remain until almost 7 pm, when I reckon that if I head down the road, the person checking people leaving the park have paid, will have finished for the day. In any event its an hour's ride to the park entrance. When I get there well before eight, the box is empty, so I'm through scot-free.

A late finish to the day. I camped below on the riverbank.

The next thing is to reach a good place to camp before nightfall. I'd been thinking of when I passed this way last December, that a few kilometres after the left turn for Esquel, there's a great winding switchback descent with a bridge across a river at the bottom, a little beyond which, there's a track down to the riverbank. This is where I aim to reach as there isn't much wild camping scope anywhere else, except for sliding the bike underneath a padlocked gate into a pine tree plantation that I pass.

I reckon there's just about enough time left before dark to reach the riverbank "Rio Percy" as I pull over onto a roadside viewpoint looking down upon the river far below. The sun has just set, leaving the hills on the far side of the deep hollow before me with an orange afterglow.

It is cold now as I sweep downhill. The descent goes down for a few kilometres until the road crosses the bridge and climbs the other side with the river down the embankment to the right. When I reach the track down to the riverbank a little further, there's a new fence across the opening, so I've to resort to uncoupling the panniers and lifting the bike over.

Supper is extra spaghetti, as I'm less than 15 kilometres from the city, which I'll reach early tomorrow and will shop.

I wonder how Kazu got on? He really is doing it on the cheap, passing through the city and camping along the road somewhere the other side. I on the other hand will stay in Esquel a couple of nights. I hope there is place I can try out some more artisan beer.

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