Rio Grande

We are leaving Ushuaia again today. but we only have 230 km to go until Rio Grande which is still in Tierra del Fuego. We have to do this short section today because there is not enough time to go the full distance to catch the ferry in Provenia,Chile to take us to Punta Arenas. so we are having a staging post stop tonight and will leave early tomorrow morning. The road out of Ush was bathed in amazing sunshine this morning as we rode through the valleys surrounded on each side by Snowcapped mountains and deep river basins and flood Plains with all the Beaver dams and swamp areas. It’s a truly beautiful wilderness area.

We stopped and launched the drone to give an idea of how vast the area is. We then proceeded up to the pass that divides or Ushuaia from Lago Escondido only to find that the road has subsided and there were construction vehicles fixing it. We rode through without falling and again managed to stop with a fantastic view of Lago Escondido and again launch the drone. We carried on down to Lago Faguno and as we were riding down the wind started to pick up and by the time we reached the eastern most edge of Lego Faguno it was howling. We stopped at the beach to take photographs of the lake and the Andes is in the distance.

From this point on the ride became more of an endurance test as we approached the flatter lands of Terra del Fuego and the winds vented their fury as we rode the final 100 km. It was a battle against wind against potholes, against oncoming trucks whose bow wave knocked the bikes sideways and against the cold. We arrived at the YPF petrol station in Rio Grande and pulled in to flopped into a chair with coffee and empanadas. We sat there for about an hour warming up. Finally we persuaded ourselves that we should go the final 8 km to our hotel to arrive at a bizarre building with a ground floor the size of a football pitch with only a reception desk inside and 14 different lifts.

It slightly weird because you get given your key, take your lift to the floor and then there is someone waiting for you to guide you to your room. A very strange experience for two guys carrying loads of bags and probably in a bit of a bad mood. We are now esconced in our rooms a bit scared to go out in case they are waiting for us !

Lago Escondido