Day 8 – 29th November . Extra Images

Day 8 – 29th November . First Snow

San Martin de Los Andes – San Carlos de Bariloche 230 kms (98 kms Track)

Total Distance So Far: 1,801 kms

I spent the first hour or two hanging about my hotel waiting for the rain to stop. It was the longest breakfast I had ever had. Eventually it thinned to a drizzle and I set off, leaving fond memories of that lamb behind. My route today was over/through a couple of mountain ranges CerroAlto (2,123m) and Cerro Cuyin Manzano (2,219m). I had the choice to do 320kms by road (having to retrace my steps backwards past Junin) and avoid the mountains, or take the route through them, which the reception staff at my hotel said was ok for 4x4 vehicles. The tracks sounded fun to me, and anywhere a 4x4 can go so can I!

20kms out of San Martin and climbing into the Cerro Alto the drizzle became rain so I put on my wet weather gear. What a fag that is. It’s like putting on a straight jacket. And no sooner did I force myself into it and strap up, I needed a waz! A Unimog driver pulled over to see if I needed any help. Apart from trying to get my old boy back into the warm I told him I was fine. I asked about the route ahead. He tried his best to give me advice about the route ahead. There was snow and ice on his truck. I tried to get some info about the surface (soft mud, mud hard-pack, stoney hard-pack or soft stone). The only surface that bothered me was soft mud, as that gives the greatest risk of the bike getting stuck. My Spanish was not up to it - it was impossible.

I decided to plough ahead and if the rain got too heavy or their was an abundance of soft mud I would return and do the now 360 kms by road. Literally after a few more bends the tarmac stopped and turned into wet slushy mud! Great I thought. I was sliding all over the place. I let some air out of the tyres and gave it another go. Slightly better (will need knobblies in Bolivia for sure). The scenery by the way was incredible, misty, cloudy, snow covered mountains, and deep green pine forests. Waterfalls and gushing streams everywhere. The bike handled better with less air in the tyres and I soon got used to it slip-sliding. I kept climbing and 20-30kms later the rain turned to snow and hail, as the temperature gauge read –3 degrees. This was all fine, and a good test to see that I stayed warm. I used leather Gortex lined ski gloves and they worked a treat, my boots also kept my feet warm and dry. The only problem I had was because the temperature was not very cold, the snow hit my visor, and the bikes visor and turned to slushy ice. It was impossible to see through it. If it was warmer - zero or higher it would have stayed as rain, or if it was colder, say –10 or more then the snow would have blown off. I soon got the hang of it slowing down and pushing it off every few hundred meters but it was a pain. I made a note to pick up some ski gogs in Bariloche. After another 30 kms the snow stopped and the sun made an occasional appearance.

I realise that I need to reduce the weight. The bike is just to sluggish fully laden. I will have to go through everything possible to leave in Bariloche. To make a real difference in weight (10 kg) it needs to be the camping gear but without that I am a bit exposed if I can not make towns with a place to stay. It's a dilema. If it stays dry in Southern Patagonia then I'll be fine, if it's wet then it will be far more difficult with such a heavy bike on trail tyres. To add to the weight for the next leg I'll need an additional 10 litres of fuel as there is one section where we have 515 kms between gas stations, plus I need to take 6 litres of water which is 4 more than I have taken so far, so we have an extra 14 kg of liquid to factor in.

I passed a few vehicles, mostly 1960’s Unimogs and Land Cruisers, and unbelievably a cyclist pulling a trailer. I stopped to make sure he was fine. He introduced himself as Sean from Dublin. A lively chap, he was on a two-year mission that started at Puerto Madryn on the east coast in August. So far he had covered about 1,000kms mostly into the wind, and up hills, so he was averaging 10-15kms a day only. He said once he’d crossed over the Andes that things will get easier in Chile. It did look painful when I first saw him, he was grinding the bike up a step hill doing no more than walking pace. He is on a two-year mission planning to arrive in Columbia some 10,000 kms later. I told him about the snow 20-30kms up the road, but he said he was only planning to do another 5 kms then camp for the night. It made me realize what a ‘walk in the park’ my own mission is. Thank goodness for petrol engines I thought. I wished him luck and moved on.

Coming out of the mountains the temperature warmed up to 4 degrees, and the drizzle returned. It made little difference as I sped along the road which hugged the shores of Lake Nahuel Huapi for the next 95 kms all the way to Bariloche. The views across the lake were awesome . I got the first real gusts of the Patagonian winds today, and noticed it managed to produce waves up to 2 meters high.

Now checked into the swankiest hotel in town for two nights, Bariloche will be my last chance to get things sorted before heading south. I like the feel of Bariloche, it’s very smart and very busy, like a cold oasis in the mountains. The airport here serves the town and the ski resort 10 kms away. Apparently the Swiss founded it a hundred years ago, so it has patisseries and chocolate shops on every corner. I can recommend the patisseries as I’m now sitting in one updating the blog. The tart tatin is excellent – nice thin and caramelised!

Day 7 – 28th November. Small Gentle Cruise

Junin De Los Andes - San Martin de Los Andes 41 kms

Total Distance So Far: 1,571 kms

Enjoying a lay in, breakfast in bed and updating the blog this morning. Things could not have started so well I thought. Crossing the Pampas was easier than I expected. I admit it’s easy saying that after having no incidents. If I found the roads in poorer condition, or had to deal with any bike problems or punctures then I might be singing a different tune. And, I have been on enough tours to realize incidents hit you when you least expect it! I built an extra day in Junin and Bariloche for either R&R or to fix problems here in the lake district region of Northern Patagonia. Luckily as there are no problems to solve I spent the day lardy-ing about San Martin which is just 41 kms south of Junin. A nice little hop. I could have done it on skates.

San Martin de Los Andes, is a smart ski town for the well-heeled. It has an Alpine feel with lots of wooden chalets. The ski season finished in September, but it is still busy with adventurous outdoor types who come for hiking, hunting, shooting ‘n’ fishing.

A relaxing afternoon was spent drinking coffee by Lake Lucar. An even more relaxing evening was spent scoffing open-fire cooked lamb. Thank the Welsh for introducing sheep to Patagonia 140 years ago. A smooth Trapiche Malbec from Mendoza washed it down well. I had a technical ride through a couple of forests to do the next day so I retired early-ish! For some reason I got the notebook out and watched one of a bunch of movies I downloaded from the Apple store before the trip started. A new British comedy classic was how it was billed. “Lesbian Vampire Killers” – what a way to ruin an otherwise great day.

Day 6 – 27th November . First True Offroad

Casa de Piedra (Pampas) – Junin De Los Andes (Patagonia) 520 kms (105kms off road)

Total Distance So Far: 1,530 kms


The day started with some great news today. Lidy was hoping to join me on the Chilean leg, where it is possible to go two-up on the bike (although how we are both going to fit remains to be seen - ditch the tent or strap on a sidecar?). Flights to join me were proving impossible though. She had been on standby to get a flight into Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego (the world’s most southerly town), which is the starting point for the 2-3 months of each year where tourists leave for Antarctica voyages so everything gets booked solid well in advance.

Over breakfast using some newly acquired local maps which had off road tracks marked on them I saw the possibility later in the day to save 200kms of road miles by cutting over the top of a small mountain Co. Feo (1,392m) in the foothills of the Andes. It looked about 70-80kms, but turned out to be 105kms including a few navigational errors. This seemed the perfect opportunity to test the bike off road laden with all my gear before getting to the more remote tracks in southern Patagonia. I needed to see how she handled in the dirt and if there was going to be any problems. I also need to see if there would be any fuel consumption changes as this needs to be carefully planned further south.

The first 350 kms ridden today finished off the last of the desert Pampas. A very barren landscape. I noticed the temperature hit 37 degrees, which is the hottest so far. By the end of the day though it will drop to 4 degrees! One consolation though I had beautiful blue views of the Rio Negro on my left for some 150 kms. WELCOME TO PATAGONIA the big rusty signpost said in the middle of nowhere in half a dozen languages. I got off my bike to take a picture but a police/checkpoint control man rushed out of his hut and told me pictures were not allowed! A cursory glance at my luggage which he liked to shake back and forwards for some reason, and he sent me on my way.

The entrance to the off-road track was exactly where it should have been. Great news as I’ll be using the same maps when I get further south. In Morocco I have used old maps where roads and towns have disappeared having been covered by newly built 20-30km long dams that had not yet made it onto the charts! It took a good 20 kms to get the hang of riding such a heavy bike off-road. With luggage and juice it weighed in at about 275 kgs. I am normally used to riding an off-road bike fully fueled and without luggage weighing in at about 110 kgs. You just need to anticipate things much further in advance as the speed of turning, braking and general agility is just not there. Rob Hughes trusted me with his BMW 1200GS Adventure a few weeks earlier off roading in Wales doing some pre-trip training and the Honda behaved in a similar way, although not as smooth. I soon got into the groove and good progress was made. The shear vastness of crossing the mountain was a fantastic feeling. I passed two or three small farms but other than that I saw no one. Coming over the crest of one hill I saw a huge snow covered volcano, the 3,776m high Volcano Lanin. It was one hell of a sight and totally unexpected. It seemed the perfect place for a cup of tea. With the light fading I got going again, until I exited down a cutting back onto terra firma. The next 50kms to Junin de Los Andes was a breeze, snaking along the edge of a river, and then up higher into the Andes. It was a bit chilly after the sun dropped. I was not really prepared for the drop, and apart from a very gay flowery neck buff I had handy in my tank bag I grinned and bore it, as I was too lazy to stop and get some warm weather gear out. Missing heated grips!

The small off road section at the end of the day proved invaluable. I have confidence in the bike, and will make some improvements regarding weight distribution of the load (having lost one of my bottles of water, and almost losing my spare fuel). I ironed out a few GPS glitches. The petrol consumption also remained constant, so I know I’ll still get 300 kms out of the tank, plus another 120 kms from my spare plastic tank. It took about 3 hours to do the 105 kms, but that included many picture stops including a long stop for a couple of cups of Tetley’s admiring the volcano. The pace was ideal as I plan to be able to cover the 1,650 kms of off-road in Southern Patagonia in 6 days, averaging 275 kms a day. Or if I need to put in a rest day due to weather or tiredness then the average is 330 kms which should take no more than 8 hours. SEE VIDEO BELOW.


BIKER NOTES: This next paragraph is only really for the bikers out there. My advice for all normal folks is to skip it and move on.

On the dirt the big 700 handled pretty well. I kept the speed limit to 60 kph for both safety reasons being solo, and also I found the bike started to bounce a bit at anything over that speed. For the bigger distances in southern Patagonia 50-60kph is perfect, although I am certainly hoping the tracks will be wider than today though, considering the side-wind factor. The tyre choice was always going to be a hard one, with so many terrains to cover. In the end we selected Metzler Tourance which gives a good long-life (10,000kms rear/20,000kms front) and good mix of on-road, on-road wet, and off-road grip. It is useless though in off-road wet conditions so the mountain tracks in Bolivia are of some concern as I’ll be traveling through this area in the wettest month of January. I may need to change to full off-road knobblies. Off road today they really showed some limitations though as the rear end, especially with all that weight, washed out on many corners with a lot of loose on. I had get right over the front wheel to counter it. In fact the only way the bike was ride-able was on the pegs leaning very far forwards. With the weight in the right position though the big bike tended to handle well and remain stable. A good long torqy third gear (20 – 60kph) also meant I could keep gear changes to a minimum. I have never ridden a Transalp before this trip, but have to say I am very impressed. The main factor in choosing the bike was it’s excellent reliability record, but I am also finding out the handling on road is excellent, and off road pretty good given it’s weight and tyre limitations.

Day 5 – 26th November . Extra Images

Day 5 – 26th November . Creepy Crawlies!

San Carlos de Bolivar to Casa de Piedra (Pampas) – 670 kms

Total Distance So Far: 1,010 kms

I rode a lot further than planned today. The next two days I had planned to cross the most remote 800kms of the Pampas, but I ended up doing the majority of it today. I had been told of a hotel at a National Park in the Pampas about 500 kms from San Carlos de Bolivar. Fantastic I thought, the tent can stay in its wrapper. I was actually planning to camp at about 400 kms until ‘my knowledgeable friend’ Juan, told me in the bar last night of this oasis in the middle of the Pampas. Apparently the rooms were good, with views over the Parque National Lihuel Calel, famous as it’s still the one place in Argentina where pumas roam freely in the wild. At 7pm and after 490kms in the sadle I arrived at the park entrance where the lone ranger (no pun intended) on duty informs me of no such hotel. I said a pretty stupid thing, and told him he must be mistaken! He tells me he informs lots of ‘stupid’ people who arrive at the park wanting to stay in this non-existent 5-star super-pad! I wonder why. (Juan if you are reading this blog I have some advice for you – “1) Don’t give advice, and 2) Buy more beers!” I said no problem to the ranger I’ll just set up my tent. He tells me it is not a good idea as there are too many pit vipers about at the moment. He says don’t worry there is a ‘real hotel’ just down the road in Casa de Piedra. Excellent I thought and asked him to give me directions. Just down the road turned out to be another 180 kms down the road. What the hell, the days riding had been fantastic, another couple of hours and I’ll get there just after sunset. I really got into the zone. Only bikers out there will really appreciate this. I was cruising through all this ‘space’, being blasted by U2, and thinking how marvelous this was. There was no where else I’d rather be.

It was a fantastic extra leg, with an awesome setting sun. Plenty of photo opportunities, which made the leg take an extra hour. There were vultures and eagles all about, and literally hundreds of tarantulas crossing the road, plus the odd snake. At one point I had to swerve to miss them. It was something like one of Michael Caine’s 1970’s B-movies – ‘Revenge of the Giant Spiders’. I stopped and there must have been half a dozen tarantulas all crossing the road at the same time. I cornered one big fella (about 7 inches across) and took a few shots until it got a bit aggressive rearing up on it’s hind legs and doing little hops towards me. I laid down and tried to get an arty ‘spider with setting sun’ shot but noticed another bugger getting a bit close to my boots, so I let it go and pushed on.

The green Pampas was full of cowboys (gaucho’s) looking after cows. It turned into dessert desolate scrub after about 400 kms today, and very few vehicles were crossing through. Casa de Piedra, is a little one street town in the middle of nowhere with a big dam. Sure enough it had a little hotel and they had space just as the ranger predicted. That was lucky as I was not going to camp with so many hairy friends about, let alone the pit vipers!

Anyway the ride tested both me and the bike. I had not ridden for a couple of months, and it was testament to the bike that after 700 kms I felt fine, just a little wind-beaten, even with about 50 kms of riding on the pegs over some broken pot-holey roads. The most important bit (backside) stayed in good shape!

Day 4 – 25th November.

Buenos Aires to San Carlos de Bolivar (Pampas) – 340 kms.

I woke at 8 with a bit of a thick head. Mani must have picked the strongest Argentinean beer legal to sell, as from a blurred memory I only had a couple! I made the worst mistake and checked my emails knowing I might be without internet access for a while. Blow – 48 emails, more than usual. It took 2 hours to sort out the urgent ones. I made a mental that if I was to fully enjoy this trip I needed to get emails as far away as possible. I realize how lucky I am to have Julia who I can rely on to handle the vast majority of issues. Arriving at Motocare at 11am, my first challenge was getting all my luggage onto the bike. I had carefully planned what I needed but when you are solo space is always going to be tight. Mariano said a lot of travelvers send the majority of the gear on ahead to a later town on route, but I was not keen on that as if anything got lost or delayed it would cause real problems.

I had one side pannier which had clothes in. Not much, just spare jeans, 4 tee shirts, a couple of pairs of shorts, and a pair of trousers, fleece, plus some socks and undies. Plus a spare pair of riding trousers, my riding suit inner liners for when the temperatures drop later, and a spare pair of cold weather Goretex lined leather gloves. And, that was one side bag full.

On the other side bag I had chargers (phones, computer, GPS, razor), adapters, spare GPS, mini speakers, toiletries (razor, soap, toothbrush & paste, nail clippers and loo roll). It also held torches, spares batteries, my notebook, various USB cables, my helmet cam, plus two small cooking burners and two small gas bottles, plus a lightweight aluminum pot, pan and plate set. Some utensils, small binoculars and a few medical items. That was the side panniers all done.

The top box had my tool kit (for every nut/bolt on the bike, plus tyre levers, pliers, Stanley knife etc) and spares (tyre weld, WD40, duck tape, cable ties, fuses, bulbs, araldite etc), a compact tripod, a full face helmet needed to help combat the wind and cold in Patagonia, and the high Bolivian Andes where the temperature swings from +20 during the day to –20 (even –30) at night, plus waterproofs, and a small soft cool box for butter, cheese, cool drink, chocolate bar etc.

In additional I had a waterproof bag tied over the back seat which held a 2-man tent (but really not much bigger than a coffin!), air mattress, sleeping bag, walking shoes, non-riding jacket water proof coat, and 5 travel books. This bag is the least important if stolen, and easiest to replace quickly if needed. It is held down with a lock, but could be cut quite easily.

Lastly I have a tank bag (and my jacket) which contains all of my most important items. If this stuff goes then the whole trip would have to be cancelled or seriously curtailed. Cash and credit cards in hidden in different areas in case of any incident, passport, camera, iPhone, satellite phone (and charger), flask, sunglasses, insurance, driving and international drivers license, bike and immigration papers for Chile, Peru and Bolivia (which took 1 month to complete), notebook and pen, main GPS. This bag can easily be taken off the bike and kept with me.

It seemed so much, but for the trip all seemed pretty necessary. I spent an hour with Mariano trying to pair down the load. We took out some of the tools that were duplicated, a jumper, a guide book, some covers for some items etc, but most of it was pretty essential, and quite compact. Thirty minutes later the bike was loaded and I was into my gear. This is it I thought, all the planning (at least a couple of weeks!), at last I was off. The guys from Motocare gave me a great send off, and Mariano rode with me to the edge of Buenos Aires. I am sure he just wanted to make sure I did not get lost – and to make sure I could actually ride!

Buenos Aires drivers are mad, completely crazy and have no regard to motorcyclists at all. You basically have to hold your lane (and your nerve) otherwise they see your lane as a chance to undertake/overtake another car and the fact you happen to be there is of no concern.

It was good when the city thinned into suburbs, and they in turn thinned into occasional towns, which after about 100kms turned into the green Pampas where cows and cowboys became a common sight, and with very little traffic at all after 200kms. The dessert Pampas will be later. I loved the ride. It was peaceful, and I was really chilled. The bike went like a dream. The only little incident was being waived down by the police, who all seemed good natured and talked about football. It was a shame when the sun dropped and it came to an end at 8pm when I rode into the town of San Carlos de Bolivar. I actually missed the entrance and had to do 5kms down a farmers dirt road to get back to the town. It really is a great little place and I found a nice comfortable hotel. Camping will be saved for when there is no alternative (no hotel, bus shelter or bear cave!), or I want to wake in an incredibly scenic or remote place. After a quick shower I decamped into this little café where I am typing this, sitting facing the square watching the locals scurry about. One great steak, a couple of Heinekens, one espresso – all for a fiver. Bliss. Tomorrow I am not sure what will bring, but I am sure it will be interesting.

Days 1, 2 & 3 – 22nd/23rd/24th November

Buenos Aires

Getting off the plane in Buenos Aires at 9am on Sunday morning 22nd November, and the sun hit me square in the face. I thought perfect what a great start. My great start soon disappeared when my luggage did not turn up on the belt. All my gear what a disaster!. Luckily it turned up on the next flight from Sao Paulo. The 70 mins trasit there through the airport was clearly a bit quick for Brazilian baggage handlers early on a Sunday morning!

I arrived at my hotel at noon. The manager Juan told me the room would not be ready for three hours, so he took me to his favourite bistro – Josaphines – as it was lunch time. After far too much beef stroganoff and red wine the day just kinda disappeared. I put my head on the pillow at 8pm and enjoyed 12 hours catch up sleep.

On the 23rd I sorted out all the camping gear required. What a shitty word ‘camping’, still when there are no hotels it’s better than nothing. What was amazing though was how genuinely enthusiastic all the sales assistants were about the latest rip-resisatant tent, or new sub-zero sleeping bag. Sad bunch I thought! Tents for me all way down on the sleeping order, somewhere below homeless shelters and log cabins.

On the 24th, one day before I had planned to set off I met with Mariano and Juan from Motocare. First rate chaps who were very helpful. They had been working on my bike, a late model Honda TransAlp 700 xlv. It was the ideal bike for this trip, extremely reliable, fuel injected for some of the high mountain passes (up to 19,600 feet) I had to tackle, and spares were easy to get hold of in South America should a problem arise. They were very professional and really turned out a first rate machine ready for the trip. In the weeks before I arrived we decided it was best to take a bike that had already completed a few trips, but was still only a year old. They serviced the bike, put on new on/off road tyres, a new heavy duty chain and sprocket along with a long distance model Scott Oiler. They sorted me a full set of spares and tools. They put a connection for my GPS, plus a spare 12v socket. They also wired in another 12v socket that could be used for either the GPS or other devices should any of the first two fail. Extremely thorough, but then again they knew my worse enemy going solo to some of the most remote places on the earth was the potential of breakdown. They gave me a thorough training session on the bike and a list of things to check. They even showed me how to use my helmet as a bike stand to change the front and rear tyres when in places like Patagonia or the dessert when there is nothing to lift or support the bike, and laying the bike on it side could give difficulties with leaking fuel and lifting it back up again!

They did tend to warn me about the possible pitfalls though a bit. Mariano warned me about the fierce cross winds in Patagonia. He told me about the last time he was in Patagonia and he lifted his hand up in the air whilst riding along west to east at 120 kph and felt nothing. He was being pushed along by a 120 kph tail wind. He said it would not be possible to ride in a southern direction in these conditions. He advised me to try and avoid Patagonia as much as possible by crossing the Andes and traveling down the Chilean side. I am considering it……a bit.

That evening I met one of my brother’s friends, a great chap called Mani Frers, of boat designer German Frers, who took me to dinner in town. I explained my route. Again he started tut-tutting when I mentioned Patagonia although he did say it was very beautiful, very remote, and very deserted. It soon got around to the wind. I thought Mani would know a thing or two about wind being the designer of America’s Cup sailing boats. He told me an incredible story about when he broke down in Patagonia some 20 years ago whilst delivering a car. He said he opened the side doors and lifted the boot and the wind started to blow the car down the road, like a sail boat. He said he covered 50 kms to the next bit of civilization traveling at 10 kph. Amazing I was speechless…. The next bit of civilization was some Indians who Mani said had never seen a car!! He said that is how remote Patagonia is. I am definitely considering reducing the 2000 kms of Patagonia I need to cover, by doing 1000 kms or so on the Chilean side of the Andes where you get the rain but not the wind - as per Mariano’s suggestion.

I will not ask for anyone else’s opinion about Patagonia again. What ever hits me hits me. Hopefully I’ll be lucky. I usually am. And besides we have the Pampas and the Lake District to discover first. I did not get a good nights sleep – too excited about the start of the trip in the morning.