As no one had died the email front was quite, lucky cos the wifi was slower than a BMW (runs for cover), the weather was looking +/- ok with some shit and some good stuff....were off!!
Saying goodbye to Juan and Alice on the 250 Advespa they headed to Chile Chico and out to Argie, we opting to challenge the weather gods of the Carretera Austral.
Cochrane was well within our grasp and Caleta Tortel reachable without issues or very bad roads.
Personalised bridges
P1230787 by twomotokiwis, on FlickrAs it turned out the road to Cochrane was very good condition allowing us to keep a good pace and making it ahead of time, deciding to get to Caleta Tortel we stocked up on supplies then onwards to the south.
Road works galore, won't be long and it will all be tar sealed.
P1230804 by twomotokiwis, on FlickrThe road was an interesting mix of corrugations and loose stuff making riding pretty interesting, then shit happened again, the was a crack, bang and a chunk of black metal flew off into the veges, it turned out to be the other half of the LED light bracket had failed in exactly the same place, this time the front wheel grabbed the light and part bracket posting it into the veges at a great rate.
Lucky the Rigid Industries lights are bomb proof as it too a hell of a launch
P1230825 by twomotokiwis, on FlickrI stopped as quick as I could given the surface was loose, we backtracked and it took about 10 minutes to find the light with the part of the bracket attached, you would think it would be easy to spot eh but no it was quite a mission.
With the light back in hand and packed away in the tank bag we were now down to the factory candle....lots more power use and lost less lighting.
Continuing on down we followed the Rio Bakar, said to be the most beautiful river on the Carretera Austral but we think in Chile complete….stunning colours.
P1230802 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr
P1230820 by twomotokiwis, on FlickrOur luck with the weather was running low as we rode into mist, fog then light rain then to steady rain, the last 25 -30 km it was cold and very wet, arriving in Caleta Tortel we decided to try and find a hostal as the tent was still wet, it was raining steadily and it was very cold, lucky enough the cheaper place was not far away so we softed out and had our first hard roof and sheeted bed for 8 days.
P1230888 by twomotokiwis, on FlickrDreary and wet
IMG_6499 by twomotokiwis, on FlickrWe did a heap of washing, had an epic shower and sat on a flush toilet AND had a log fire to warm and dry ourselves too, saweet.
Caleta Tortel has an interesting array of timber boardwalks which it is famous for, we an almost slight reprieve in the weather so we took the advantage to look around.
One of the main boardwalks down from town to the sea
IMG_6489 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr
IMG_6495 by twomotokiwis, on FlickrBeautifully crafted places you can stop out of the rain, really neat place
IMG_6496 by twomotokiwis, on FlickrThe boardwalks go for a couple of km
IMG_6497 by twomotokiwis, on FlickrThe rain continued all night and at various points was quite noisy on the roof bringing that warm cosy feeling of $$$ value.
Having to catch a ferry at 10 am we needed to head away earlyish so a hot shower before bailing then to the ferry we go, mum nature still being mean with crap weather and very low temperatures.
The road up and out of Caleta Tortal ,very nice ride indeed
P1230882 by twomotokiwis, on FlickrHeading up the gorge to the pass
P1230834 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr
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