Travel Log Week 2

Monday 10.7.00 Up with the light, we got organised and loaded, with a chance to look back over the Magellan Strait to Tierra del Fuego, with a big ship going slowly through, quite stunning, especially in the summer we think, as there was a barbie ready to go in our host's back garden. After some quick repairs to Paul's top box which had lost a corner in a crash back at Tolhuin, we were off to the border with our earliest start yet. Just as well, as the concrete road was still treacherous, so we used the hard shoulder again for safety. Cleared Customs form Chile into Argentina, many more people asking why we were riding big bikes around in winter; we certainly do get noticed, for whatever reason. The letters again worked well, and we were free to go up through Patagonia. The road quickly went back to gravel which was a blessing, and we made reasonable time across the top despite quite a bit of snow, more Rheas and stunning views all round, including being above cloud level for a while in what looked like a fossilised lava field. We rode into Rio Gallegos with plenty of light left, and time to ride around and check it out. Paul was desperate to get out on the town, so we found a reasonable Hotel, and made camp. We are now hoping to start covering some miles on better going, up the coast road to Bahia Blanca, as our Oil friends said they would not consider taking a 4WD with spikes along our original route around the Torres del Paine at this time of year, let alone big overloaded bikes with smooth tyres! So, we have opted to run up the coast before trying to cross the Andes, however that may not be simple either, as we have been looking at reports of record snow in the Mendoza district of Argentina, so we will see when we get there!

Also forgot to give you the GPS data for our night hut: S 52.19.024 W069.41.439

Tuesday 11.7.00 Rio Gallegos to Puerto St Julian Plan A again, early breakfast and leave in good time to get a run in, we'd sheeted the bikes down in the back yard of the hotel, and for once this time all went according to plan, though after our stay in the house the previous night, we discovered that their cats had been perching inside the tarp, and as a result we had picked up a smell of cat pee, lovely! We had taken a good look round Rio Gallegos (GPS S51.37.041/W069.13.171) last night, it has loads of shoe and sports shops, a traffic warden on every street, but no food. We made do with a pizza all round, then on the way back found a place doing whole chicken, chips & a pint of coke for $10, much more like it! Loaded and ready to roll for 10, we carefully made our way out of town on yet more icy concrete, being careful not to fall off in front of the housemaids, who were all fascinated by the bikes. Rolling out of town, with a brief stop at the Police Checkpoint for him to write down our numbers and ask where we were going, it was on up Route 3 towards Piedra Buena, which was a long run across the top of the Patagonian plateau, the roads were good, but there was a biting wind, and as it was the first time we had been at any speed, once again the gear was well tested. Adam had to resort to a piece of bubble wrap held in reserve for just such an occasion, to fill the gap between goggles and chin guard, apart form looking like he was foaming at the mouth, it worked really well. Other than our toes getting cold after the first hour at 60, all was well. We stopped for fuel at Piedra Buena, and had a bite in the service station, just as we were pulling out, a trucker stopped to warn us of snow ahead, but we could not make out how much or how far. We decided to press on as we had good light, and time to come back if we hit problems, but didn't see anything else until we got to the next town, 100k up the road, Puerto St Julian (GPS S49.18.674/W067.43.011). It really is difficult to convey how little there is around, mile after mile of heath land, on various flat levels presumably glacial lake floors (?) with very little habitation, less Estancia's than we saw in Tierra del Fuego even. We did notice quite a bit of graffiti on the roadside culverts, cryptic love messages, vote for various politicians, and even Liverpool FC on one! As soon as we stopped in Puerto St Julian, we got nabbed by a film crew (happens all the time!) for the local cable network, and after John doing his best Gloucester English for them to translate, we went and found the Municipal Hotel, which was actually very good. No food on offer in town again, more shoe shops and trinkets, plus loads of very beat up Yankee pickups, the best of which was an old Ford, she was so shot he had to turn the one front headlight off to make it up the hill! The dealership "Jones Automotos" did have a very nice Model T pickup on show which was the business though. We stopped at the Telefonica shop and downloaded the last lot of mails, plus picked up yours from the UK which made great reading over the Municipal Dinner, it was lovely to hear from so many people. Various answers and comments will be coming back to those who deserve them! Seriously, it was great to feel in touch, keep them coming. A good days work and our longest run to date, so plain sailing from now on?

Wednesday 12.7.00 Now we are getting in the swing of it, ready to hit the road at 10 after Municipal breakfast, also very good, we fuelled up and rode out of town past the biggest Ox Cart we've ever seen, and a motocross track, BIG drop-offs, we'd have done a quick lap but with these panniers on you just can't get the bike down in the corners..... We were aiming for Comodoro Rivadavia, the biggest town we'd been to since Punta Arenas. It was another 300k run, but after making good time yesterday we were confident. However the TV crew had said that the weather is unseasonably bad, and places that never have snow are getting it this year, oh well. The road was stunning again, back away from the port and up on the top, the sky was pale blue and with the snow, the colour was just like the Argentine flag. Looking to the left we could see in the far distance the Andes, where our original route would have been. All went well for the first hour, until we encountered a 5 km section of snowbound road, packed down by trucks, and we headed straight for the hard shoulder again. Good decision, as the road was tram-lined, and although you could go along it, a change of speed or direction would have had you off. In fact it was fine, except the very last section where John got cross rutted while looking at the mountains, and couldn't save it. Never mind, only dented pride this time! We pressed on once we'd cleared this section, but we kept climbing and the temperature kept dropping, we rigged a thermometer on the indicator stem, and it was showing -15/-20 at 60mph, well done Rukka & Snugrip again as it was actually warmer on the bikes than stopped trying to film things. We stopped at the only place en-route, Fitz Roy, a filling station, shop and 5 houses, but they had a great collection of Neolithic arrowheads, and pics of cars & trucks wrecked on the local roads! Some what subdued we pushed on, but now climbing over rocky outcrops it was really cold, then suddenly it all dropped away, the temperature went up by 5 degrees and it was a wonderful run down along the Atlantic coast, again quite a stunning view, and we had to stop several times to take it in. We completed the run into Comodoro Rivadavia (GPS S45.51.749/W067.28.587) and all of a sudden we were back in "civilisation", after miles of nothing, traffic jams! We got directions to various different hotels from people, again really helpful and interested in us, lots of waving & smiling, before stopping at the Austral Hotel who have secure parking and Internet, it was bizarre to see our own site from here, with someone else flying it in Spanish, but it did the job and they were again very interested. So another day done and our first 1000 miles completed, though not all in a northerly direction. are aiming to travel to Trelew tomorrow, another 300k, and a Canadian aero engineer tells us that the roads to Buenos Aires are blocked, but we've heard so many different stories we will just go and see! To the sound of Yankee Pickups with no exhausts doing donuts on the ice outside we will try and get some sleep!

In the snow when it was still fun

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Thursday 13.7.00 Comodora Rivadavia to Trelew After finally getting some sleep when the mad pickups went home, we had the big breakfast as promised by Enrico at the Austral Hotel, and got on the road by 11. Running out of town up the highway was a great ride, and we quickly climbed up onto the top, for the straight run down to Trelew. We had been stopped at a Police Checkpoint going out of town, and they said the road was icy with snow in patches, so on we went. We made good time for the first 85 miles, then we began to hit the snow patches. Quickly the patches became continuous, and soon it was pretty dodgy. We had to keep moving, as to stop meant you could not get going again, but we were still climbing. It had to happen, and first John came off, then Paul, who was stuck under the bike, trapped by his leg. John was also stuck, and a truck driver stopped to help, and fell over himself trying to get to John. They both then rescued Paul, along with a couple in a pickup who stopped as well, meanwhile Adam had rolled on to the top of the hill, but there was a couple of trucks off the road there, and nowhere to stop, so he had to keep going for a while longer till he found a small patch of earth to stop on. John had crushed one Touratech pannier and broken the brackets off, and Paul had really hurt his leg, looking like his ligaments torn, so we got collected together and sorted out. The road graders arrived to pull the trucks out, and when they had done that offered us some tea, which was good. A driver gave us some spray on goo for more grip, which helped, and we decided to carry on to the next place, about 20 k. It was really bad, you could not change line, and nor could the trucks, so you had to keep going or they would have to stop too; looking in your mirrors seeing a truck behind on full lock still going straight on towards you was not nice, and we could not pull over because of the snow banks on either side. Not our most favourite experience. We got to the top, and were able to let the trucks roll on, and decided to take it really easy, and covered the next 15 miles in the dark, when we finally saw some lights. Afraid it was just another Pumping Station and unmanned, we were relieved to see a fuel station, so we stopped and asked for rooms. They did dinner but not rooms, but a Policeman there said we could stay in the cells over the road, an offer we quickly accepted. They also got a nurse to look at Paul's leg, which was really swollen, and John & Adam went back for the bikes, and the Chef at the Filling Station kindly knocked up takeaway Steak & Chips. By this time it was raining on the ice, and it was impossible to walk let alone ride on the packed snow. The Police guys went shooting off to another accident, we had passed 4 trucks off the road in the last 5 miles alone. Paul was very depressed at getting injured, and we will have to see how he is tomorrow, as he may need a trip to hospital to check it out, 100k away. So, an unexpected stop and a very welcome stay in the Garayalde Police Station (GPS S44.41.241/ W066.37.206) it looked like the word was right about the road being impassable to Buenos Aires, and apparently it is the same for the next 40k, we will see how we do tomorrow!

Police Station at Garayalde, Anna, Gloria & Daniel our hosts for the night	Our Cell at Garayalde, Gloria has just looked at Pauls leg and put a much needed dressing on, safe at last, but not happy!
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Friday 14.7.00 Garayalde Police Station. We woke up after a good nights sleep, the camping kit came in really useful, we made tea for breakfast, and compared notes. On hindsight, we had been very lucky not to get seriously injured yesterday; when John came off, as he was getting up he saw Paul go down, and it was obvious to him it was a bad one. He decided to leave his bike to "run" up the ice to Paul, and he and the pickup people got the bike off Paul. He then looked back to his bike which is when he noticed that the truck drivers who had stopped to pick his bike for him were falling all over the place themselves, which afterwards was funny, but not at the time. On our trip through the dark to Garayalde, Paul said that one truck pulling past us had his trailer sideways going down the road towards Adam who was leading, and it only straightened at the last moment, as the driver kept the power on and got just enough grip to pull it back into line. As we said, the graders had moved the snow off the road, but this made banks 2' high each side which meant no escape for us once we were on the road. We all said that seeing the lights of Garayalde in the distance, and riding for an hour before getting there and finding that yes, it really was somewhere to stop was quite a moment. If it had not been for that, we'd have been in very serious trouble as the road conditions were the worst any of us have ever experienced anywhere without a doubt, let alone being on heavy bikes with trucks and buses oncoming and behind. The worry of knowing how long the road was, with no settlements at all for 300km, and so whether help and shelter was available at "the lights" was quite a concern, and Paul said afterwards that once he pulled up behind Adam's bike at the fuel station, that was as far as he was going on that bike! All in all we considered ourselves lucky to be in one piece albeit with Paul's leg in big trouble and Johns Touratech looking very mangled, just held on with wire for now. Anna the Police Dispatcher and the guys said that we would have to move out of the Cell, and shift the bikes out of the garage as they had the Commissioner coming up from Commodoro Rivadavia. Nurse Gloria very kindly offered us a room at their house, just round the corner, which is the only First Aid Station for 200k in any direction. It turned out that she & PC Daniel are married, and the house was full of their family, including Daniels sister Maria and her children. They made us really welcome, and the eldest, Ivan used his computer Babelfish translator to help us converse which was really good. The previous night we'd had 3 phrasebooks and a dictionary on the go at one time! We were overwhelmed by their hospitality, they showed us the gun collection and videos of them hunting deer, some of which Gloria & Maria made into wonderful small pasties called "embanada" for dinner. She and Daniel kept getting calls for accidents out on the roads and rushing off in the Ambulance, they seemed to have worked all through the previous night too. After dinner she redressed Paul's leg, and again offered an anti-inflammatory injection again, which he still was scared of, and declined! We had more long conversations and the communication on all sides improved greatly, and Castellan was making much more sense to us having someone to talk to for a long period. Gloria said that Rio Gallegos was very involved in the Falklands War, and this is possibly why people were not very forthcoming sometimes, once they knew we were English. We were again very touched to realise that the kids had moved out of their room to fit us in, and we settled down for a good nights sleep, soothed by the boiler rumbling away, and wondering what the weather was going to do, as they said it was forecast to stay cold and snowing for the next 2 weeks, and indeed it had been snowing and windy most of the afternoon. So we not optimistic about a quick thaw, and Gloria still wanted Paul's leg X-Rayed, but that meant a 200k trip to Trelew, and there was not a vehicle spare to go in. By the way, it took the Commissioner over 10 hours to get there from Commodoro Rivadavia in a 4WD!

Tomas, Francisco, John, Paul, Martin, Maria, Ain, Ivan & Adam have tea - "Empanada" from deer hunted by Daniel. Gloria is at another crash.

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Saturday 15.7.00 Garayalde First Aid Post to Trewlew. We had breakfast with the kids and looked at the weather, which was clear and cold, John went down and had a look at the main road; the roads in the camp were 1' deep in snow, and the main road was covered in the what we have found is the worst type of ice, half melted and refrozen in big knobbles with no pattern, and when you hit one you have no idea which way the bike is going to go, but you just have to go with it, as you can't change direction at all. Not very encouraged, we decided plan B was definitely the one, and asked if it would be possible to get a truck to load the bikes into, as there was no way Paul was riding, even if Gloria would let him! Daniel had offered to handcuff him if he tried; John thought that was a good idea for giving him the injection as well! They kindly put some calls in for us, and came up with the hire of a big Chevvy truck owned by a local farming family, but it would only take one bike, and would not be free till late afternoon. We now knew it was another 40k on ice, but decided it was worth the risk for John and Adam to ride their bikes, with all the kit chucked in the truck. This was agreed, and after Ivan (Frank) helping John & Adam fix the Touratech in their garage, Gloria made a great homemade Pizza lunch. Paul kept Francisco and Tomas entertained, it turned out Francisco is mad keen on Falconry, which is not common in Argentina, we promised to get him a "caperusi" (hawk hood) when we get back, and Ivan is well into computers, and hopes to go to University next year to study Video technology, which will mean along trip north for him. Martin, who is Juan's son, hopes to be a professional footballer, they all support Boca Juniors except Gloria! Daniel gave us some very good and welcome advice on travelling the rest of Argentina, what to avoid if possible etc, and it was time to load up. Originally they said that they would handcuff Paul to make sure he did not escape before Gloria was happy with his leg, but Daniels brother Juan offered to take him in the car down to Trelew, so we could all travel together, which was again very kind. After loading the Chevvy, which is a big petrol V8 on bald tyres (we were a bit worried when it got stuck in the drive!) and seeing it off before us as it would only do 20mph, it was time to say goodbye to our friends. It was very emotional actually, Francisco gave us each a feather for luck, and Daniel to our surprise gave us the best one of their Neolithic arrowheads from their collection, and peeled off his Argentine Flag from his uniform and gave it to us, which was very special. We were quite overwhelmed by this, and Juan said "Remember, not Argies but Gauchos", and having touched on the war the day before, it makes you realise again that ordinary people in all walks of life are affected by things which seem so simple for politicians and newspapers to trivialise.

John and Adam rode to the fuel station to fill up, and set off, waving to the family in the Ambulance parked in the drive. Gloria had booked us into a hotel in Trelew, and we were all to meet Juan at the first fuel station there, and go on in convoy. The road was as bad as it looked, but with less traffic around, and lighter bikes, it was possible to ride slowly and steadily, though without the panniers on, any crash would wipe out the whole side of the bike we realised! After 30 miles of very dodgy riding the ice cleared and we picked up speed, but there were still bad stretches, and the concentration needed was immense. Eventually it cleared completely though it was dark now, and we passed the pickup roaring along at 20mph. Stopping at the next fuel station for a break, it was the first snow free ground we had stood on for 3 days, and what a releif! We made good time through the freezing air (it was really, really cold and clear) down to Trelew, and waited on a roundabout for Juan. While we were there a Police Car pulled up; one was a bike cop in his leathers, and the other wanted to be but his wife would not let him now he had a kid! They were fascinated by the trip and the bikes, and wished us luck, and shortly after, Juan, Elsa and Paul arrived in the Renault. Juan had driven flat out, as the engine died below 3500, and when he put the lights on Main Beam, they sometimes went out altogether! At one point they overtook a truck, the lights went out and he was driving by Police Torch at 70, until he eventually got them on, then the dash lights went out so they still needed the torch to check the speedo and ashtray! Elsa served coffee from a flask all trip, all in all another experience not to be missed! We all had a coffee at the fuel station, waiting for the truck, which suddenly shot by flat out at 40 downhill, the V8 sounding really good! Juan shot off after them and got him back, and we all made it to the Hotel.

When we had unloaded into the yard, Juan again grabbed Paul and shot him off to Hospital, on Gloria's instructions, and insisted on getting an X-Ray. They got back about midnight, and the pictures showed no breaks which was good news, but the hospital wanted Paul to go back on Sunday for a specialist to look at it, and fit a plaster, which did not sound quite so good. So, we will see what happens then, and decide on the best course of action once we know what the options are. Currently with Paul on a crutch, it is not looking too great, though we hope we are now out of the icy areas. It is impossible to properly express how grateful we are to Daniel, Gloria, Juan, Elsa and their families up at Garayalde, without them we would have been in very serious trouble, and quite apart from their medical help for Paul, the whole family made us welcome, undoubtedly one of the best things we have ever experienced, and we hope to be able to return the favour in some way when we get back.

Sunday 16.7.00 Trelew, (GPS S43.15.069/W065.18.535) After a late night watching Titanic on Saturday night ( John did not cry this time round!), John & Paul took a taxi back to the hospital to see the Specialist, who was great. He said that Paul has snapped both the interior ligaments at the knee on the inside of his leg, but if we were determined to travel he would be able to obtain a leg brace to provide the support required to stabilise the joint. In any event, an operation will be required in 6-8 weeks to repair the damage once the swelling is down. He said to return Monday to get fitted, so it was off around Trelew on crutches to see some sights. We sat down for a coffee and lunch, and decided that all being well with the brace, since we were now through the snow and ice, it was worth a try to see if Paul could ride the bike, as he had done the (hopefully!) difficult bit, and did not want to miss out on the rest of the trip. We wandered around Trelew, which was established in 1865 by 150 Welsh settlers, and is really nice. The night before, in the hotel one of the staff had apologised for not speaking English too well, but did we speak any Welsh? The only words we could remember were from Nathan & Grant the Welsh motocross boyos, and probably not suitable for the occasion, so we kept going in English & Castellan. We found a Telefonica shop to email our latest news back to the UK, and as ever the little Sony Vaio computer we are using for these reports caused quite a stir; one of the guys in the shop was emailing his tutor in Aberystwyth GB with the next bit of his MSC, and it turned out his mother in law owns a Welsh Cream Tea shop nearby, and would we like to come out on Sunday? Riccardo knew all about our trip and Paul's problem, and it sounded a great excuse for a ride out, so we said we'd try and make it. After reading our incoming mails (thanks again for those) and a very nice meal, it was back to watch DiCaprio again in The Man in the Iron Mask, once more John managed not to cry at the end! After a very difficult few days, and wondering if we'd have to fly Paul out and crate his bike back from Buenos Aires, hopefully the brace will work well, and we can continue together. Tomorrow will bring good news we hope.

Link to next update: Week 3