Ushuaia to Rio Grande

My lazing about in Buenos Aires is behind me now and the adventure has begun!!!

Arrived in Ushuaia and put the bike together and headed off into town to buy food and fuel. There is a sign saying "Ushuaia: fin del monde principio del todo". Then I wound on up into the mountains in, shall we say, not too bad weather. It sleeted a bit but generally the wind wasn´t too bad and nor was the temerature. In fact going up hill it got a bit hot. My first campsite was in the snow near the top of Paso Garibaldi surrounded by beautiful snow capped mountains (all about Ben Nevis sort of size). It was very chilly so I just dived into the tent and got some soup and pasta on the go. had a cup of tea and hit the sack. It was a cold and windy night, I would estimate -2C or so, but inside my lovely warm sleeping bag it was toasty! Next I summited the pass and free wheeled for about 10kms the other side past a gorgeous lake.

Then the scenery started to flatten out a bit. All the truck drivers, motorbikes and some cars wave or beep their horns to cheer me along which is great fun. Tolhuin consisted of a petrol station. So I bought a chocolate bar and a fizzy drink and carried on. Later I found a great free camping area with loads of Argentinians on thier hols. I set up the tent and bits of ice and snow fell out, but in sunshine it dried out instantly. Then I got a fire up and running and cooked some pasta and some tea and then just chilled out by the fire with a book. Doesn´t get dark till quite late here so I am usually in bed before dark and get up after sunrise.

Today was more of a slog because the wind has picked up. I fought a headwind all the way but its flat and featureless. Just the occassional llama. Arrived in Rio Grande and checked into the Hostel Agentina. Looking forward to a shower and a decent feed. Hoping to make it to Torres del Paine for my birthday (think that´ll make a good pressie).

Don´t foget there are more pictures on flickr.