Ruta 40... so far

I'm not sure I'm really qualified to write a post about the RN 40 (Ruta Nacional 40) yet, given that we've only cycled about 200 miles of it, but I'm going to anyway.

The RN40 runs the length of western Argentina and along its way the surface varies from new tarmac to sand. Since the last blog post we've had 4 days on it, and passed through Santa Maria, Punta de Balasto (a night camping in a churchyard), Hualfin, and Belen. In the first couple of days from Cafayate we encountered an 18 mile section which is in the process of being paved. This means that the 'camino consolidado' (basically hard packed gravel and sand) was closed for resurfacing and instead we were cycling on a temporary road of sand, which isn't easy on a bike weighing 40kg.

This isn't a road

About 20 miles before Hualfin we got our first experience of the real unpaved RN40, and it's not at all pleasant for cycling. The road is grit and sand compacted by cars and trucks, and weathered by the wind, so you get a choice of cycling on the washboard bumps, or in the deeper sand to the side of the tyre tracks. It's pretty clear we can't keep up the distances we need if the road is in that kind of condition, and each map we see tells us something different about which parts of the road are paved, which doesn't help! Anyway, for now it's back to tarmac at least until Chiliceto.

Whether paved or not, the road has been pretty spectacular so far, and is infintely more interesting to cycle than the alternative RN38 through endless crop fields. It also attracts more travellers. We've met a bunch of German bikers who were going round the world - they started in 2007, and yesterday met an Argentine cyclist with a very interesting stove who we spent the day with.

We're in Belen at the moment, resting up for a couple of days, stocking up on steak (today is a 2-day) and plotting the next part of the route.