Camping El Risquero - The eighth step ... Patagonia etc once more. - CycleBlaze

January 23, 2020

Camping El Risquero

The weather forecasts have been pretty accurate so far so it was futile hoping that today and tomorrow would be bright and sunny.  The rain started last night but it was quite bright with a patch of blue in the sky when I got up to make coffee at seven o'clock.  The oats porridge had just finished cooking when the rain started to fall again although it was just a gentle drizzle and no bother at all.  

We were on the road soon after nine o'clock with a short day ahead of us.  It was really enjoyable at the start of our ride.  The weather was OK, the ripio smooth and dust free after the rain and my knee was holding up.

At the start of the ride the rain was light, the road was smooth and the hills almost nonexistent.
Heart 1 Comment 0 Link

After a stop for biscuits and some bird watching the heavens opened and the last twenty kilometers was a bit of a trial.

Chucao Tapaculo, a trash bird of Patagonian forested areas but a real skulker so usually heard and not seen. Their distinctive calls have been ringing out all day long on this trip but this is the first one to show itself enough to haul out a camera.
Heart 1 Comment 0 Link
Then we climbed up and down along swift running streams.
Heart 1 Comment 0 Link
And the ripio got a bit rougher.
Heart 1 Comment 0 Link

We got to the excellent new campsite run by Orfelina before twelve.  We must have looked like drowned rats because we were instructed to pitch our tent in the partialy completed refugio and tempted to come and have lunch in her house.  The lunch, at 7,000CLP, was great value and just what we needed to warm up.  She even through in a glass of wine to accompany the pan, salad and cazuela (a traditional watery stew) and let us put our shoes next to the fire to dry.  Playing with her grandson was and added bonus.

While we were enjoying (in the fullest sense of the word) our lunch, a young Canadian couple, Marlon and Lauren, cycled in so after lunch I moved our tent out of the refugio and into the old orchard that is now the campsite.

Today's ride: 28 km (17 miles)
Total: 1,037 km (644 miles)

Rate this entry's writing Heart 1
Comment on this entry Comment 0