Ok so as soon as the terrain changed we knew we where into some great riding. Made a detour and headed in land and away from the never ending westerly winds. Stayed in a town that was much like a Queenstown in the slightly earlier days in some ways but well ahead in others.
The lakes are quite amazing and did indeed remind us of home both in Wanaka and Queenstown.
The the road become a little rough earlier than expected but continued on anyway due to the rather cool area that we had entered...
But it did get tighter and rougher ....... then it occurred to me that I had turned off earlier than I should, but hey when on a roll....
and infact proved to be quite the adventure and well worth it. So what to do when this happens, stop and put a brew on then move on and go from there...Caths being doing a daily diary (sort of) and here s a snippet from it..... Its different from behind!
From the campsite of 'the howling dog' we continued Southwards towards Bariloche, a destination tourist town on one of the lakes,but a sizeable ride fuel wise, and one we went backwards and forwards on at the fork in the road.
I had read in the 'loose, and sometimes inaccurate guide book' that a town called St Martin de Los Andes was the one not to miss, and all though it was off the main road, we could loop round the scenic lakes and re-join the main highway to Bariloche, only costing us 120kms. It was only 63kms to this town from the fork, whereas Bariloche approx 163kms.....a look at the fuel guage and the increasing wind gusts ,swung the decision.
We arrived in a little place not unlike Queenstown N.Z., found an o.k motel just on the outskirts and took ourselves out for a tikky tour of the town. No surprises there, a pleasant evening spent and back to the room for a well earned kip. The noisy neighbours went out, and we were left to have a peaceful night.
None of the hotels, motels or hostels have tea making facilities and it always cracks me up when Mark sets up the camp stove (mind the net curtains), and makes a brew, just a giggle, but i'm such a snail without one. Its in every ones best interests that this ritual is played out.
A beautiful day, and its off to follow the route around the Lakes. Ascending , winding trails slowly turned into dirt track with the odd, Patagonian chocolate box chalet cabins.
The scenary is spectacular, with pristine, rushing rivers, young from snowmelt and trout fishermen literally up to their thighsin it. The only thing missing was the lakes.... We had managed to take a wrong turn, but this time it was in our favour. The views and the ride was nothing short of delicious, and because we are spoiled at home with our lake environment,we didnt feel that we missed out at all.Yep, this was a great mistake.
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