Carretera Austral and Ruta 40 Patagonia

Heading into the mountains again, suddenly theres snow on the road!

 Carretera Austral, riding alongside lake Buenos Aires, probably one of the most picturesce gravel roads in the world.

 Lake Buenos Aires.

 A restaurant at the lake side hotel we are staying at.

 The view from our cabin.

 More gravel roads.

 Ruta 40 crossing Patagonia, we are now very remote and a long way from home, over 200 miles of gravel roads to cross. The bikes just eat it up.

 The only fuel station for over a 100 miles and it has no fuel, most of the big BMW's ie the Adventurer, which I have, come with a 33 litre tanks, so its no problem for us to make it to the next town. However a lot of the bikes have only 20 litre tanks, so they're in trouble. The van has to go to the next town, over a 100 miles away and get more fuel. It was a long day for some of the team.

 Perito Moreno glacier, one the biggest glaciers in the WORLD!! I'm wearing a bandana because its bloody freezing and I did'nt take a hat.

Another view of the glacier.

Riding Carretera Austral

     Riding another dirt road

 The entrance to Butch Cassidy's farm.

 Gary and I standing in the door way of Butch Cassidy's house

 Whoops I bet that will take some getting out.

The start of Carretera Austral. The road that General Pinochet built in the 80's to service the smaller villages in Chile.

Poor internet

Hi all from sunny Tierra Del Fuego I've had and still got very poor internet connections, so can't load photos . I'll load lots when I get a decent connection.

Back to Argentina

A volcano in the background

 The waterfalls at Salto de Laja. This picture was taken in the gardens of our hotel.

 A stick insect on Gary's bike, the closest he's come to wildlife on this trip!!

                                            An off road section.

                                                 Thats me.

 The road turns nasty. The offical roue was closed due to being blocked by snow, so we tried an alternative way. This was also unpassable for a lot of the group.

                             Brando loses a pannier after dropping his bike.

                                    Leaving Chile again.

                                and entering Argentina again.

 Another off road section, thats not snow, but volcanic ash. It is covering the whole area.

      By a lake in Argentina, again the ground is covered in ash.

Back to Chile and Santiago

 

      Back into Chile via the Andes, theres snow on them there hills.

                                    Another road with lots of twisties.

 From the top of San Christobel overlooking Santiago, a very modern city with lots going on.

Argentina

 Riding the salt flats. No helmet but I was only doing 5 mph for the photo (honest Adele, and thanks very much for the donation and I will look after Mark)

                       A mud hut in Argentina, believe me somebody lives there.

                     A lunch stop off. Barbacued chicken in a local village shop.

 The owner set up a table out the back of the shop and made us chicken and chips, delicious. Peter and Rhonda wondering where their's is!!

                                                More beautiful scenery.

                 The support van catching us up on a mountain track.

                               A short stop to admirer the scenery.

                                     Me from a different angle.

Mike Oakes Rest in peace.

Mike died last week from his illness, Motor Neurone Disease. His funeral was held today. He leaves a wife Helen and two children, Emma and Daniel, my thoughts are with them and the rest of his family. Anybody still wishing to donate to the MNDS charity can do so on my site www.justgiving.com/andrew-varga. Many thanks.