After eating like Lords, and drinking like fish, a group in the Refugio Chileno looked at an attractive guide book photograph of the Torres del Paine bathed in a pinkish light at sunrise. But how early must they wake to see this spectacle? Someone knowledgable of the sun was consulted, calculations were undertaken and at last a time was held aloft.

"Four thirty!!!" they all cheered.

When the alarm clock beeped its merry tune, your faithful correspondant leapt from his bed, laced his boots and, with a spring in his step, skipped and hopped his way up the hill. Surrounded by a bevy of bronze skinned beauties, clad merely in bikinis and hiking boots, the intrepid young chap vaulted fences with the early sunshine shinning down on his face. Soon, there they were, the sight that defies description....

Oh, alright then. That didn´t happen. If you must know, it was too cloudy to see the torres when I poked my head out of the tent flap. I directed a clenched fist at the noisy aforementioned time peice (which didn´t improve my hangover) and rolled over and slept. When I did hike up to the torres, which are certainly towering, it was too late for the red glow effect. Perhaps I can add that later with photoshop?

A few miles out of Punta Arenas I crossed paths with Dave (note the machete) who has cycled here from Seatle and is nearly at the end of his journey.

Yesterday was the day of things breaking. This began in the morning when my plastic spork decided it would rather be a uselessly small fork and spoon instead. Then the button on my trousers broke and just as I was looking for a place to put the tent up I got my first puncture.

Puerto Natales is beautiful. It is set on the water with mountains all around. I´m looking forward to scenery becoming more dramatic and also to spending a week or so hiking in Torres del Paine national park. Right, I´m off to explore

There are a few gizmos that make life a bit easier for a bicycle traveller so I thought I would share my top ten

1. Thermometer: I picked this up this morning in Punta Arenas. How else am I going to brag about the extreme cold I endured in the Andes and the brain melting heat in the tropics. Also, should give me a sporting chance at some basic weather prediction.

2. SD card reader: More descrite (and therefore safer) than plugging in your digital camera etc.

3. Miniture tripod: I´m touring alone so have to be best freinds with the self-timer.

4. Flint and steel: My friend Lindsay gave me this as a going-away-pressie. It is indispensible. Works every time for lighting fires or stoves and doesn´t matter if it gets wet.

5. Swiss army knife: never does a day go by without me using this trusty tool.

6. Universal adaptor: Argentina has a combination of flat and round-pins (so you can use either) and Chile has round pins. Either way its worth having an adaptor mine will do any country in the world and also has a USB input which is ideal for charging up the ipod.

7. Combination bike lock: Cheap but hopefully enough to put an oppotunist theif off. I´ll never loose the key because there isn´t one.

8. Spork: Awesome eating utensil. Needed for stiring pasta, shoveling said pasta into mouth and then for spreading dulce de leche onto some bread. But I guess any spoon would have done.

9. Pen: Mine was a gift from CAAC and I probably would have forgotten one otherwise. Diary entries would be a bit minimal without it.

10. Toepeak Alien 2: It´s worth having a decent multi tool for the bike. This all-singing-all-dancing one is ideal.

Darren Alf is really the king of this kind of kit list. Here are links to his lists on a similar theme. . .
Top 10 Most Important Items on a Bike Tour
Thankfully, I have 8 out of 10 with me. I consider that a pretty good score, a First at uni. I don´t have a mirror or mobile phone.
10 Important Items You Should Have But Might Not Think of Bringing On Your Bike Tour
I managed 7 out of 10 with these, just a 2:1. Forgetting toilet roll (I´ve just stollen a wedge from the hostel), extra camera battery (which would be really useful) and mini USB cable (which wouldn´t).

The northern half of Tierra del Fuego is flat and windy. I headed out of Rio Grande and put in a longish day to reach San Sebastian, which is the border with Chile. Went through fine and then passed a sign reading "Fin de Pavmiento". From there on it was a case of eyes down and look at gravel. But there is a knack to riding on this stuff and soon enough I was looking around enjoying the scenery again. The scenery consists of miles and miles of nothing apart from the odd sheep or llama. At the Chilean version of San Sebastian 15km further on I grabbed a steak sandwich in an american dinner style place and changed over to chilean pesos you get about 6,540,000,000 to the pound (possibly) so your mental arithmetic needs to be sharp. Then I camped in the absolute middle of nowhere.

Woke up and there was a tail wind! Wolfed down some dulce de leche (a bit like condensed milk) sarnies and hit the gravel. 50 clicks later passed Phil and Joyce a cycling couple from Bath who have come from Peru a similar route to the one I am planning and gave me pleanty of useful tips and info. Ta! They told me of a campsite by the beach between 40 and 45kms from Povenir. So I nailed it to there and got a little campfire going with heaps of dried out sea-weed and drift wood. I love cooking on an open fire, it saves fuel and after I´ve finished cooking I have a nice cheery blaze to eat by. Only trouble was that the tide came in and the sea was very noisy with crashing waves that woke me up a few times. Today the going was tough as the road was washboard gravel tracks with several undulating hills and the head wind had reappeared. Took me 6 hours to cover 40km. Then I arrived in Porvenir (bit of a ghost town) and waited for the ferry to take me to Punta Arenas. I´m now safely installed in the Backpacker´s Paradise for 2 nights to get a bit of rest before heading up to Puerto Natales and then Torres del Paine (which I am very very excited about) where I´m hoping to do a bit of trekking in the mountains.

Equipment is all doing well. Especially the bike, she is a grafter. The sleeping bag is very warm. Tent´s ok but not really been tested by a soaking yet but does fine in the wind. Trangia for cooking is great and I found "alcohol industrial" easily in the supermarcado. Its usually easy enough to build a fire instead anyway. Panniers all do what they are supposed to, I like the Crosso´s for the twist closing but prefer the clamps on the Revolutions.

My brother sent me a poem he has written and its too good to hoard just for myself. Apparently, the UK police have just canned publishing a 93 page cycle manual for police officers . He thought he could do better and with less words.

(Brackets not to be read)

Verse 1 – how to ride

Push pedals,

Steer true,

DON’T HIT ANYTHING,

Or, let anything hit you.

Verse 2 - equipment

And wear a helmet,

Bright colours and lights,

And avoid bus drivers who,

Like getting in fights. (look out for glazed and blood shot eyes)

Verse 3 - survival

Don’t argue with gutters, (here speaks the voice of experience)

Or run, lights that are red.

Because these are both sure ways,

Of ending up dead.

Also, thought it might be a good idea to get "Ben´s favourite cycling joke" aired as well. Why couldn't the bicycle stand up ? It was two tired. Cheers bro.

Ok so I asked Roberto to teach me a song in Spanish and he´s started me off on this song called "El Raton" -the mouse. I practised it a few times and he told me, "Don´t be timid and sing like a man". The "hechale semila.." bit is very fast and dificult but I love the "chacucha cucucuchacucha"!

Chords are Am C7 B7 E7

Mi gato se esta quejando
Que no puede vacilar
Si donde quiera que se mete
Su gata lo va buscar
Esto si es serio mi amigo
Oye! oye que lio!
Que lio se va formar

Cuando mi gatito sepa
Cuando mi gatito sepa
Es tan simple la razon

De cualquier malla
Sale un raton. Oye!

Hechale semilla a esa maraca pa´ que suene
chacucha cucucuchacucha!!


Here are the Fania All Stars performing it in Africa featuring a Santana guitar solo.

Met up with Carlos Viggiano today. This guy is a bandoneon teacher and I asked him questions about Tango and the bandoneon. In fact I recorded a 20 minute interview with him in Spanish. Quite daunting stuff but I think it will be easier next time. In the audio clip he is playing Decarisimo by Astor Piazzolla. He told me some interesting things about how the bandoneon was invented in Holland as a portable replacement for the church organ. As if to demonstrate this he picks it up and plays a few bars of "organ music". Throughout the interview we dunk bread in strong coffee. He is an expressive guy and gets his point across with drawings, a few chords on the bandoneon or with gesticulation but generally speaks slow enough for me to catch the drift. He seems to me a bit like an Italian. More about this at a later date I think. But it was pretty cool. Unfortunately I could not have a bash at playing the thing because it is too precious and my hands are probably too weak. Shame.

Last night I stayed up drinking with the guys in the hostal. I think it was really beneficial for my Spanish and its great to chat to interesting people too. One Columbian guy got his guitar out and played a couple of songs. I´d like to learn a song in Spanish as an ice breaker for when you get passed a guitar. I will have to get someone to teach me.
Other than that there was a girl from Ushuaia who says the snowboarding is excellent there all year round, but I´ll probably miss out on that. This morning I was nursing a smallish hangover but took the recorder into town and went and bought my flight ticket. Its a strange system. I had reserved a seat online but you can´t pay online so to be honest there wasn´t much point. Hope I don´t get stung too much on the excess luggage.

The folk stage near Obolisco continued today with a lady in a swooshy red dress. Her dancing and dress were more attension grabbing than her singing but the band were decent. Piano accordian, violin, guitar, bass and percussion (well, a man banging a box with a pair of maracas strapped to his leg). I recorded one song, stayed and listened to another one and then went off for the flight ticket. On the way back I took in Florida again and the band from a few days ago were back. They are called El Metodo. This time without the clarinet player. I recorded a couple of songs. I got their email address so will send them some questions too. They played quite a few tango tunes this time but also a couple of jazz clasics.

Back at the hostel some of the guys had bought some facturas, which means pastries. I tried churro (a deep fried donut thing) and alfajor (a chocolate and dulce leche sugar rush) but my favourite was vigilante. Yum. Also learnt that croissants are called media luna - half moon. Makes sense, no? They say I can´t leave Argentina without having tried an asado which is a barbeque. Every part of the cow is eaten apparently and (please keep that "apparently" in mind) red meat is supposed to be good for healthy sperm. Not sure if bicycle saddles are...

Ok, this is the folky chica.

And El Metodo

I´ve decided to stay here a few days longer to rest up the foot some more (its heaps better though), and soak up a bit more sunshine before heading to Ushuaia. I´ve not been too active the last couple of days but I did try mate for the first time. Mate is the national drink of Argentina. Its a kind of tea but tastes a bit like coffee. Its odd but not in a bad way and bitter but not unpleasantly so. The most interesting aspect is that it is drunk with a metal straw which has a filter at the bottom and is called a bombilla. The drink is popular with all ages and is a sociable activity. There is an etiquette that goes along with it, a bit like handing round a spliff I suppose. Also a really cool thing happened this morning for breakfast. The hostal receptionist baked an apple crumble!

Day Three. Went to visit the Museo del Tango which is in the famous Cafe Tortoni. Was mostly a load of old tat really. Some faded photos, Carlos Gardel´s hat, some old record covers and manuscripts. The cool thing was that a tango group were practising at the back. They were rehearsing a particularly dramatic passage from the end of a tune and the pianist (a guy in early twenties with a tasteful afro and goatee) was argueing with the singer (a cross between Pavorotti and Hulk Hogan, sorry folks, no photo!). I stood listening for a while, whilst pretending to look at the exhibits, and then sat down to rest the foot. At this point they began to play the whole tune through, rather than practise sections. Its powerful, seductive, sophisticated stuff this tango. Do you know it origionated in brothels and was the favouite music of thugs and gangsters? I guess a lot of good music has started off with an underclass (blues, hip-hop, jazz). The leggy style of dancing today is quite an evolution because to begin with it was only danced by men. The band I watched are what is known as an orquesta tipica and are formed of piano, double bass, two bandeons and two violins. Oh and Hulkavotti.

Also caught a few more street musicians today (Day Four!) including a folk group. There was a blonde lady with a bowler hat and a piano accordian and a clarinetist with a black moustache and a beret. They made a bit of a racket but not entirely unpleasant. Then I saw a small man (or possibly a child) playing Guns and Roses and Joe Saturani riffs. Not for me.

Back at the same place as before on Florida street I found another group doing some really dancable tunes. I guess they have a caribbean or ska influence. Anyway I managed to video a little bit this time (got to start taking the audio recorder with me).

A guy comes over whenever your sat down somewhere (on the metro, or at a cafe) and puts something in front of you (a pair of sissors, a pen, a book, a torch, a screwdriver) then in a few minutes he comes and picks it up. The idea is you have become so attached to it you want to buy it. Also a kid came up to me with some juggling balls. I thought he was trying to sell them to me so just said "No gracias" but he shaked his head and then started to do the most half-hearted juggling you can imagine. I asked him "Quieres dinero?", he nodded, but I decided to say "Lo siento, no."

I´m going to fly to Ushauia on Saturday I think. It´ll be a damn site more comfy than 36 hours on a bus (which only goes as far as Rio Gallegos) and as the bike is already packed up it makes sense. Hope there is a bike shop there but if not I should be able to assemble the thing.

Pretty cool day today. Went out to the Boca area where there are some attractive multi coloured buildings. Then caught a bunch of street musicians on the main tourist drag. They did a pretty cool rendition of "Minor Swing". Then had a few beers in Plaza Dorrego and watched people dancing the Tango.

Despite all the horror stories I have read, flying with a bike seemed to go fairly smoothly. The box has a few knocks and I havn´t opened it yet, but its a hardy bike it´ll be ok. Not really decided the best way to get to Tierra del Fuego. Bus or plane.
Buenos Aires is a lovely city with many tree lined streets with the Jacarandas in blossom at the moment a vibrant purple. Had a bit of a look round today but foot is still a bit sore. Saw the presidential palace, a giant pink building, the parliment building and the phalic Obolisco. Also, Plaza San Martin was nice with lots of people sunbathing, kids playing football. There is a big statue of San Martin on his horse and loads of weird and wonderful trees with enormous roots.

My friend Mark Rodgers has just released an EP which he's put up on a website www.cahm.co.uk. I thought it was rather good. Here's a few questions I put to him.

Where does the name CAHM come from?
Originally when I first got round to writing songs I was working different factory/crappy jobs and spent time working in a hospital as grounds/porter. All of these jobs seem to have an attitude of discouraging free thought or any ideas outside of a tabloid newspaper, the hospital being the worst culprit.
This institution spawned one of the first songs 'the working warrior', a musical call to arms against people who want to kick down people's dreams to maintain the status quo. The second was a reflection on being let down by people (usual token whiny melancholy song!) friends and figures of affection.
The conclusion was that all these feelings and actions although not always physical but were in fact Crimes Against Human Minds. This first collection of demo acoustic and trip hop tracks under this new name were lovingly locked away under the ep title of 'Fighting Denial'.
These days just having the name as CAHM amuses me as I kinda see it as calm spelt badly.

Whats the best lyric you've written?
"The cloak that keeps us warm, is the one that hides the daggers." From Survive In Distrust

Who was your favourite band aged 15?
Nirvana, I just religiously listened to bleach and nevermind and regularly cited it as world changing stuff if only people would reeeeally listen to. Such a classic teenager!

What song do you wish you'd written?
Toooooooooooooooooooooo many for too many reasons! For saying a lot with only a couple of chords id go for John Lennon's 'Working Class Hero'. For passion and aggression Refused's 'New Noise'. For thinking in so many directions Radiohead's 'Paranoid Android' and for the love noise Nirvana's 'Scentless Apprentice'

What book has influenced you more than any other?
Its prob going to be close run race between my sociology text book 'Haralambos' from my A-levels and 'Introduction to Buddhism' by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. The first for giving me an interest in how the world works and the second for how everything works.

Any genre of music you genuinely hate?
Anything generated from a fucking tv show! Usual boy/girl bands generic pop groups in general. Straight simple house music, I didn’t really get the simple beat its painfully dull and doesn’t ever go anywhere. Girls can wriggle to anything and look normal but it just makes guys do a semi strut dance whilst pointing the fingers to the same beat for 4 hours! Modern R&B its either "my boyfriend is a twat" or "baby do you want to see my dong?"

If you were the master of the universe, what would you change?
I'd consider making cows blind…all they do is stare at you whilst plotting something. Failing that everyone's mind, literally people don’t often think about what they are thinking.

If you had to describe your music, without using adjectives, could you?
The result of a life of paying attention to people.

You are a Buddhist, right? Does your religion pervade your music? Does it help you in any day-to-day way?
I think I'm always going to be my own worst contradiction. The music that has often inspired me has been born of anger, fury and all the other negative emotions to the point that I've never even written a positive love song which most people do at some point. The only positive song I've created was a trip hop spoken word thing. I used a speech made by Ghandi on the divine and some samples of the Muslim Adhan, hopefully this wont be taken as blasphemy. Essentially I wanted to create something reflecting the positive influence of practising religious people and remind people of the power of non-violence
In the real world I like to think I am a lot more compassionate and patient than I used to be and I don’t really fear anything anymore. So in reality being a Buddhist has brought more balance and has removed a lot of old self-destructive tendencies I used to have. I think my music is the last place I have where I get to be a grumpy git throwing the dinner at the tv kinda guy!

You are also into Free Running (AKA Parkour) too. What's your favourite move?
I was always quite content with a nice kong vault with a bit of drop, mostly because it always felt like an all or nothing move and everyone loves the feeling of flying.

Who are your parkour heroes?
David Belle…just watch District 13. And a dude named Forrest who I met at a training thing in London, he was a prime example of someone who has managed to have rid himself of an ego whilst being a professional.

Do you have a favourite piece of gym apparatus?
Theses days I'm kinda limited to the floor and to walking around on my hands as my foot is pretty ruined after a semi-successful gymnastic trick (I landed the trick but it busted the wrong part of my foot and ankle). One of my friends at the gym has been trying to teach me capoeria much to everyone's amusement!

Any plans for performing live?
At the moment this is a strong maybe! I've finished with the band Todays Eden now so I wont be performing with a band for some time. However my friend Nick Parton of Fine Excuses fame (www.fineexcuses.co.uk) thinks an open mic night is calling so it may be time to look foolish for my friends some point soon. This is of course if Nick agrees to perform too!

If you could travel back in time and pass on a piece of advice to yourself as a child, what would it be?
Something along the lines of "if you don’t want to go to school mass then refuse as they cant make you!"

Return the Favour

I spent the morning on Tuesday at the sewing machine transforming an old duvet cover into a bunch of draw string bags. Also I made these roll up things, one for the kitchen (wooden spoon, spork, fag lighter, herbs and spices etc) and one for glue, sewing kit, repair stuff etc. Having a few bags to pack things into means you can compress things smaller and helps you to keep everything tidy and organised. Good tip with the draw string bags is to use a safety pin to thread the string through with.
I am still hobbling about with a sore ankle but its getting better. Bike is now boxed up and ready to fly. Just a case of getting everything else packed now. I visited my sister's school and gave a talk to the Geography Society last night which was good fun. Fly tomorrow night!

I asked Richie Cunningham if he could think of anyone else I could have a go at interviewing and he suggested William Sichel. William's ultra running achievements are incredible. He is currently unbeaten in all events longer than 48 hours and holds six ultra distance records at World, British and Scottish level.

I had a great time at the party and it was great to see everyone before I head off on Saturday. We ate well with chile-con-carne and apple crumble, visited The Vine and then headed up to the top of the hill to let off fireworks (including a highly suspect Catherine Wheel). I look forward to seeing everyone again for a 'welcome home' party in about a year or so.