Its closing in

hello... In Mendoza at last! The last 10 days have been quite tough with some long long days on the road, so I´m taking a couple of days off the bike here. Its not a bad place to relax cos I´ve arrived just in time for the harvesting of the grapes and the annual wine festival. That´s now 4150km so its about time for a rest!

The route so far has taken me through the mountains and pampas of south Argentina, into the temperate rainforest of Chile and then back into the foothills of the Andes and more pampas of Argentina. For the last 1500km I´ve cycled the same route that Che Gueuvara took in the Motorcycle Diaries through a region called the Lakes District, then north into the pampas. The last couple of days I´ve had Aconcagua in view which I´ve been riding straight towards.

Both my kit and my body have adapted pretty well to the routine that I´ve become used to everyday. Its amazing how your body can adapt to such a bizarre routine, but I don´t think some of my kit and bike are too happy with it - I think they´d prefer day trips around Kendal!

I get up at sunrise, which is getting later and is now around 7. By the time I´ve cooked up a huge bowl of porridge and dulce de leche (a caramel that everyone loves here) its staring to warm up a little. Down south I´d usually start riding with thermals, gloves and a hat but now the temperatures probably in the twenties first thing. I then basically ride... until the light starts to fade and then try and find somewhere to camp away from the road. I usually camp four out of every five nights in the pampas and then treat myself to a campsite with shower (!) if I can find one. It can be up to a five day ride between towns so its not like I have much choice anyway! It took a little while to get used to camping miles from anywhere in the wilds, but now I much prefer it to staying in a town as long as I´ve enough fuel for my stove, food and water. The night sky is sooo clear and its great to have my own space.

The distances that I cycle each day depend on the type of road, height of passes and the strength of the headwind. A couple of days ago when the headwind was only a light breeze, I cycled 190km which felt a lot easier than some of the windy 80km days on the gravel in the south. The wind is still against me coming from the north or northwest. Sometimes its just like a strong breeze, but it´s still so frustrating having it constantly against me.... but I´m sure I´ve gone on about that enough by now. Anyhow, when the winds are up I just put my headphones in and crank up the tunes.

The temperatures now around the mid thirties during the day and I´m sure it´ll get much warmer. Yesterday just south of Mendoza the road turned into motorway which was baking. I suppose it might be quite nice to have a bit of wind further north!

As for food, I carry enough usually for up to five days, but it depends where the next town is. I´m trying to be as creative as I can with my meals with the type of food I can carry cos the pasta and stock cube I´ve been cooking up are tasting a bit ******. The best I´ve managed, which is now the menu del dia is pasta, stock cube and lentils - impressive hey... If anyones got any fancy ideas let us know!

I´m not exactly sure of my route north of here, but its probably going to be through La Rioja and Salta into Bolivia. I shouldn´t go too wrong as long as I head north. I´ll be back on the road on Wednesday, travelling through more of the vinyards and then into the pampas. I´ll keep you up to date with more of my windy travels in a bit...