January 6, 2020
Villa Cerro Castillo
Today was always going to be tough with over 1100 meters of climbing and the likelihood of headwinds. Our expectations were met in full.
It started off easily enough. A relaxed breakfast in the company of Eloise and Lewis in the excellent refugio at Las Confluencias followed by some wind assisted climbing of the initial hills that lead up to the point in Ruta 7 where the airport traffic mercifully split off to the east (Coyhaique's airport is about 50Km south of the little city). The climb intensified but the wind remained mostly behind us so it was mostly enjoyable.
After about 15Km we stopped and had a long chat to Joe and Suzanne Swan from the UK. We had met them briefly on our way out of Coyhaique yesterday. They have cycled south from Peru and, despite them being a few years older than us, they were clearly strong cyclists. They were on their way down from the National Park campsite at the top of the main climb. We had stayed there last year and had warned them it would be very cold. Their main complaint was about the price, a purse-battering 12K CLP a head for pretty rustic facilities, albeit in lovely surroundings.
After saying our goodbyes we turned westwards and into the wind which was to grow stronger as the day wore on. In the end it took us almost four hours to pass the campsite, a distance of only 25Km from our start. Then it was a big downhill to the Rio El Blanco before the hard and mind-numbing slog into an icy wind until we reached the highest point on the Carretera Austral 15Km from Villa Cerro Castillo. Even though it was only 1100 meters above sea level we had had to don a number of extra layers of clothing to stay warm enough. The biggest problem continues to be our hands. The Sealskinz gloves we had bought in the UK for this purpose have been a big disappointment. They are neither fully waterproof nor do they provide sufficient warmth.
The drop into Villa Cerro Castillo - almost 800m over 14Km - provided a token of compensation for the hard climb preceding it but all we were interested in was to get to our campsite. We headed for La Araucaria where we had stayed before but it has clearly declined over the past two years. It is very likely we will take a rest day tomorrow and if we do we will move to one of the other campsites in the village.
Today's ride: 64 km (40 miles)
Total: 727 km (451 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 1 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |