28th Jan 2015
Woke up to a beautiful clear morning on the beach. Another camper had come in after me and was a
few hundred metres further up the beach.
Was feeling VERY stiff after yesterday’s exertions, to the extent that
even getting in and out of Troopie is now kind of difficult. Maybe I overdid it a bit by climbing that
volcano ? Never mind – it was worth
it.
Set off the few kms back into the small town of Chaiten
when I topped off with (very expensive – Like $1.50 a litre !!) diesel, found a
little shop where they had fresh bread as well as some alfoil which I had run
out of, and then decided to head south out of town. A very sharp mountain was visible due south
of town and I found out that was Corcovado, at 2290 metres. A very distinctive peak.
It was a beautiful morning to be on the road, with
mountains to my right / west, so remember these snow covered peaks and glaciers
you see today are NOT the Andes, but another
mountain range between me and the Pacific. Came into Amarillo, and where I had to turn
right to go south, I had to stop and wait for a gaucho who was riding into town
on his horse – On the wrong side of the road !!
Then for the next 90 minutes I was driving along beside snow capped
peaks and then some quite big glaciers, all part of the Parque Nacional
Corcavado. It really was a very pleasant
drive, and even the dirt roads were not too bad – I was actually quite
surprised how much sealed road is now in place.
The worst thing for me was that every time I wanted to take a photo,
there were telephone wires between me and the mountains – Most inconsiderate of
them to put the wires on the right hand side of the road instead of the left !!
The river that flows along the valley is fed by all the
glaciers and snow up in the mountains, and is a very striking ice-blue, and by
the time we reached the Yelcho bridge, it was a very wide and fast flowing
river. Several cyclists were camping under the bridge, and I met a couple from
New York who have rented a tiny little Citroen van and are travelling around in
that for 6 weeks.
Piet said a couple of days ago that much of the scenery
reminded him of Switzerland, and I guess in some ways he is right – You get the
snow capped peaks, but you also get rolling green fields and pastures that are
full of cows. No bells though !! Quite a few sizeable bridges over the rivers
too – Dirt roads but big bridges !
I knew there was a section of road somewhere ahead that
is closed every day from 1 – 5 pm while they are doing major road repairs – But
I just wasn’t sure where that section of road was, so I kept going in the hope
that wherever it was I would get there before 1 pm. Unfortunately I didn’t – I got there at 1.15
and I was the first car they stopped !
So I went back up the road only about 200 yards and found a little place
fown a driveway that was a fishing and accommodation lodge down on a lake. So rather than sitting out beside the road
for nearly 4 hours, I asked them if I could park outside their buildings – They
said yes but I would need to have a coffee or lunch or something. Since it was lunch time and I was hungry,
this was no great chore, so in I went and sat down to a big plate of pasta, a
salad, and a couple of beers. A great
way to pass the time of day while waiting for the road to open again ! I went for a walk around their grounds after
lunch and realised that my legs were continuing to get stiffer and stiffer from
yesterday’s hike – I can now hardly walk properly even on a flat surface –
Throw a bump or a step in there, and I need support to get up or down !! A hot bath and some Deep Heat would be good –
But as I can’t even find a hot shower at the moment, the bath is certainly not an
option ! They even had wifi at the lodge
– But unfortunately it was terrible – They even told me it was. I eventually received a few emails on my
phone, but couldn’t get the computer to hook up to my blog at all – Shame as
that would have been a great chance to catch up.
By 10 to 5 I was back down at the roadworks, now with
about 20 cars in front of me who had been waiting on the side of the road. We set off through the extensive, and in many
places quite rough, roadworks – They are pulling down the sides of the cliffs
to widen the roads, and to do this they have to close the whole road every
day. One day it will be nice, but for
the moment it is all a bit of a nuisance.
The couple of beers I had enjoyed for lunch had made
me bit sleepy, and I also think I am
coming down with a cold – I have been sneezing and coughing all day. So after about 30 minutes of driving through
the roadworks, when I saw a camping sign, I dove off and ended up down by a
very nice lake with only a couple of other people here. I am now so stiff I can hardly get in and out
of the back of the van, so I have been lying down resting since I arrived. Hopefully I will not be as bad tomorrow !
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