Two Pegs to Patagonia, The 3 Americas

We left the hustle, bustle and booze of Iquique behind to head back up into the peace and quiet of the desert. The party crowd had arrived for the new year which meant the town and the hostal had stepped up a gear.

The owner of the Sunny Days Hostal in Arica, Ross, had suggested the Oasis of Pica, back up in the Atacama desert would be an ideal place to chill out and relax while we sorted out how to spend our time in Chile.

The camping gear finally came out as the cost slashing started.

For 4 days we attempted to say good morning to Ricardo, the mechanic. Unfortunately he never arose before midday, and on a Saturday it seemed 15:00 was his waking hour. Our hostal was conveniently next door but one to his house and workshop, so we could just put our heads out to see if he had surfaced.

Camping with sleeping bags and ground mats is the way forward. After our nights in the desert and on the beach, using our bike clothes for padding and warmth, in future it's ditch the sleeping bag and take the ground mat.

We enjoyed one last blast out into the Elqui valley, in the foothills of the Andes, tasted Pisco Sours (brandy, lime, sugar, ice), supped wine, star gazed and also navel gazed.

We have been drawn back to South America once again, for some more "unfinished" business. Back in 2011 we took the boat from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales to avoid the Carretera Austral , I said I would be back one day to ride it. Now that day has arrived.

We will start in Santiago, Chile, head to Puerto Montt and the start of the Carretera Austral, then head down to Villa O'Higgins through the Patagonian Fjords and then cross the Andes into Argentina to sample the wind blasted Ruta 40 as we ride back north.

Finally after all these years, it had to happen. We have never had luggage problems before, only motorbike ones. Usually we arrive in a country, and our bikes don't.

This time due to a little snow in Manchester our flight was delayed, and at Paris we had 20 minutes to catch our connection. We were able to run the length of the terminal, after clearing security, to be the last aboard, and dripping with sweat because I was wearing my bike jacket, my boots and carrying my helmet. However our luggage cannot run.

The building of the Carretera Austral was begun on the orders of General Pinochet (a nasty man who caused the deaths of thousands of people and was a friend of Margaret Thatcher) in the 1970s and was finally completed in 1999.

Despite his reputation, one town has a memorial to him.

The last leg to the end of the road requires a final, free, ferry. The downside is that the ferry is 120kms from Cochrane, the last decent sized town, and leaves at 10.00, 12.00 and 18.00.

As we were over 200 kms away none of the options were open to us as our average speed is around 35/40 KPH on the ripio. So we made a small detour to Calleta Tortel.

Our loop coming north, back up the east side of the Andes in Argentina, looks like being shorter than expected.

We stopped in the Chilean border town of Chile Chico for a rest, after riding for 12 continuous days. The town is on the side of the 2nd largest lake in South America, Lago General Carrera (or Lago Buenos Aires if you are Argentinian, as the border line splits the lake between the two countries).

We are back in Sanitago now. The bikes have been delivered back to Ride Chile, maybe not as clean as when they left, or with all their nuts and bolts still attached.

Overall we had very few problems, other than bits falling off, the biggest issue was Jean's fork seal going on the first day of the ripio. But like a trooper, she just rode on.

Without the bikes, our transport and temporary home (the tent) were not available to us any more. We were now exposed to a whole new experience, getting from A to B using timetabled transport and having to book accommodation by that schedule.

Using a combination of planes, buses, collectivos (multi user taxi service) and taxis we made the haul from Santiago (Chile) to the Colca Canyon (Peru) in 3 days.