Villa Ventana

5^th October

we woke up this morning having been through a massive thunderstorm the night before. My balcony furniture was neatly piled up the far end of the balcony far from where I had left it the night before, so guess it was windy too.

We packed up our stuff and found our €12 euro bike covers were not that waterproof. Fortunately, our panniers are, so not much to worry about. We then got ourselves locked in the parking garage and took a while to find the button to let us out, I then lost my room key. It was a fun morning!

We finally got on the road after 9, and the storm had dropped the temperatures by 10C over night from 23 yesterday to 13 today. So, we went in full kit today. We managed an hour or so until I had to stop to add another layer, and we stopped for the all-important protein bar, Athletes like us need to stock up on that. 

The wind was proper, and it was against us, and Tim suddenly noticed his fuel consumption today was way higher than yesterday, which facilitated a mild panic as we tried to work out if his tank held enough.  We worked out it didn’t, and so slowed down to maximum economy speed. With the vastness of Argentina fuel stations can often be 200km apart so we have to factor this into our daily planing..The wind was not part of our plan !

The scenery, after three whole days of flat endless farm country, slowly changed in to rolling hills and then slightly mountainous. We rolled into the town of Villa Ventana with Tim’s bike running on fumes.  It took close the whole 20 litres of fuel it takes. Luckily for us, there was a nice coffee shop next door, so I put the GS into in natural habitat (outside a coffee shop) and we went to warm up.

We then continued onto our hotel in the wind and rain, and ended up in what looks like a fabulous place with an amazing steak restaurant. I have no idea how this happens so often. we must be very lucky.

We checked in, unloaded all our bags etc and then decided it was a good idea to go and test the local off road riding facilities.  It did not take us long to discover that the mud here is very slippery, that that river crossings are the only way to get it all off again. I do need to talk to Tim about tyre options going forward.

Back to the hotel for a hot bath and a general reorganise of equipment before heading to the restaurant.

The restaurant was great, a big log fire and loads of local memorabilia. we put our customary sticker in a place not easily spotable, and then giggled likes kids before finding other things to play with.

On the way home we found tractors to race also. !

A fairly early night tonight as tomorrow we have a long ride to Puerto San Blas with your fist tast of the proper off-road roads.