Almost there now

We've just hopped on to a ferry from Punta Arenas, on the southern tip of mainland Chile, to Porvenir, in Tierra del Fuego. This is the start of the final leg of 500km through Tierra del Fuego to Ushuaia. We're slightly apprehensive about it having heard some of the horror stories from other cyclists of the winds, road conditions, and lack of any civilisation for at least the first 150km, but as we're going south we *should* at least have the benefit of the wind most of the way.

Pushing to Fitzroy

We arrived in Villa O'Higgins, the end of the Carretera Austral, in the pouring rain to find that the boat we'd been planning to get was full. Still, we appreciated the extra rest day and it was probably required to prepare for the infamous (within cycle touring circles at least!) crossing over the boarder to El Chalten. This involved 2 boat trips (the first via the magnificent O'Higgins Glacier) and a 22km bike/hike of which about 7km were mostly pushing through muddy singletrack, over streams and fallen trees. Fun, but quite tiring! We opted to get a horse to take our panniers which made it all more manageable. The crossing acts as a bit of a bottleneck for cycle tourists as the boats aren't frequent, or reliable. As it turned out there must have been about 20 cyclists on the final boat across Lago Desierto. It was great to bump into people who'd met people we'd met, and to exchange stories of travels so far. That night we wild camped in a forest with about 10 other bikers.

Wild camping in the woods

Marion with our canine companion
on the way to Torres del Paine

From El Chalten we turned into normal tourists for a couple of days. Time is running out and we've had to take a couple of buses to make sure we get to Ushuaia for our flight! We bussed to Cerro Castillo on the Chile/Argentine border near Torres del Paine (via El Calafate for a day trip to the Perito Moreno glacier). Torres del Paine is most famous for it's hiking trails around the Paine massif, but due to a lack of any suitable hiking equipment, and time, we'd decided we would cycle through the park to Puerto Natales. It was a wonderful few day's riding, though I think we both enjoyed the days to and from the park more than days in the park! Having spent most of the last month in an area of Chile pretty much untouched by tourists, it was a bit unsettling to suddenly be surrounded by gap-year kids and English speaking people everywhere. The ride into the park was especially wonderful as we were joined by a Swiss couple, and an incredibly energetic dog who ran alongside us for 50km!

Another bus took us here to Punta Arenas, but that will (baring any unforseen problems!) be the last. Tomorrow we head out into the barren plains of Tierra del Fuego for the last week's cycling of the trip. sob.

The boat to Porvenir