January 25, 2020
Puerto Yungay
The day started with a climb of more than four hundred meters but the effort was tempered by the best ripio we have ridden on so far. It also took us through what I think is my favourite part of the Carretera Austral. The climb tops out at a series of small lagunas and the views from up there make every drop of sweat and every labaoured breath worth it.
Because of the lack of water at the huts, we had ate the snacks that we would normally nibble on the road for breakfast and cooked up our usual oats porridge at the end of the stiffest part of the climb where we had a small waterfall in which to wash our dishes - no detergent needed.
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Then it was the drop down to Puerto Yungay. The drop, as is often the case in Chilean Patagonia, includes two steep climbs and so the hard work wasn't finished until a few kilometers from the little ferry port. Here we nabbed a table in the warmth of the cafeteria and wolfed down a couple of empenades each.
After checking in at the ferry office it was a few hours of playing the waiting game. Because the slipway is shared by three ferries, our boat was loaded and boarded in bits and pieces as it repeatedly docked and then made way for the other ferries as they arrived and departed.
Once on the ferry we made a bee-line for the showers. After two days without water with which to wash it was great to feel clean again. It turned out that the empenades at the cafeteria were a good buy - the tiny supper served on the ferry was never going to satisfy hungry cyclists.
At about ten o'clock the ferry docked at Caleta Tortel where more cyclists,including Marlon and Lauren, boarded. It seems that their decision to go to Tortel was a good. one.
Today's ride: 23 km (14 miles)
Total: 1,092 km (678 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 1 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |