Sunday 11 February 2007

Ahhhhhh...Paved Roads...

I´ve now cycled 2520km and am back over the border in Argentina, near one of the Welsh communities (Trevelin). The final part of the Carretera Austral was beautiful, continuing through the temperate rainforest. It rained quite heavily for most of the northern section though so I´m happy to be east of the mountains again.

Each of the last several days has been similar; riding through dense forest and over passes with scenery that changed from being similar to the Cumbrian lake district to Switzerland to no other possible place but Chile. Yesterday the paved roads started again and should hopefully continue for the next couple of weeks. After the sand, gravel and boulders of the Carretera Austral its luxury to have a smooth ride, rather than feeling travel sick and my bike falling to bits!

I´ve linked the photos I´ve taken so far to a map, so you should be able to get an idea of my route. From now on I´m planning to stay in Argentina rather than cutting back across into Chile as north of here Chile starts to become a bit more built up. I´ll be cycling through the mountains for another 1000km or so then into the wine regions of Mendoza and San Juan.