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Monday 16th November
Puerto Guadal to Los Antiguos

After yesterdays accident it was not a pleasant surprise to see the pouring rain in the morning, the warm and dry wooded accommodation was tempting me to stay, but we have to keep moving. The awful dirt path beckoned so we all just got on with it and successfully rode it up the hill and out, however as I made the sharp left turn out of the gate the front went into soft mud and slid down the ditch at the side of the road, I jumped clear making sure not to aggravate the injury from yesterday. The ride was only 60 miles but after the second fall was as hard as I’ve done before given the driving rain making visibility poor. The road was not forgiving either, combinations of gravel sections and slippery up-hill switch back stony sections making the ride the most uncomfortable, and it was with relief that he rain stopped as I got the to border town. After stopping for fuel I crossed the border with relative ease and a short run to Los Antigos, along the way I could hear a knocking sound from the rear of the bike. Half the group was in a hotel in town and I was with the other half some miles out of town, the support van was in town, so after dropping stuff in the hotel I rode the bike back to get Jeff to check it out. We found the rear brake pads had worn with the outer one now metal on metal. With no spares Jeff came up with a genius idea, use the spare pads for the 1200s that were in the van and as they are different mounting, weld the worn pad to the back of it. We spent some time trying to find a welder, and found a back street car place, but it was shut … siesta time, returning at 5 it was open and we managed to get the guy to weld the plate. The garage was a tin-roofed building with some old cars and parts in it, and he used an arc welder without a mask! 20 pesos later we had a working brake pad and with thanks we left and fitted it to my bike.

Miles
Today 261
Total 19612
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Tuesday 17th November
Los Antiguos to La Angostura

Back onto the famous Ruta 40, a dirt road with miles of gravel sections and sand. The first 40 miles or so were on tarmac, the rest was gravel, a type of gravel we dubbed marbles, round stones that throw the bike all over the place. I tried to keep the bike in the clearer tyre tracks but the side winds were fierce and tended to blow us off course and into the deeper gravel between. Battling this for hours and nursing the sore foot it was relief that we found the entrance to the Estancia, however another 4 miles of a narrow rough track need to be ridden before arriving at the estancia, a lovely farmstead looking across a wide plain to the distant hills. Here I set-up a tent to camp for the night as there were not enough bunks in the estancia to accommodate everyone.

Miles
Today 228
Total 19840
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Wednesday 18th November
La Angostura to El Calafate

Today we rode more of Ruta 40 another 100 miles of gravely dirt road flat and windy for most of it, 60 miles in was running at about 50 mph in 6th gear suddenly came across deep gravel covering the whole road, with the bike in 6th gear I could not get he drive to push through it and the bike went into a “tank slapper”, handle bars moving wildly from side to side until the bike flipped around, I slid to a halt some yards down the road. After picking myself up I checked the bike for damage, lucky no damage, only the left pannier popped off. The support van came up 5 minutes later and Jeff helped me to get the bike up and running again. As I rode the last 40 miles my shoulder started to hurt, though as it transpired the next day, it was only bruising and strained muscles. Once at the fuel stop the rest of the day was spent mostly on tarmac past some spectacular glacial lakes all the way to the next stop at El Calafate


Miles
Today 196
Total 20036

Thursday 19th to Friday 20th November
El Calafate
2 Days off
Spent the first day riding into the glacier park to view the spectacular Moreno Glacier. The secondary we booked onto a tour on a Catamaran which took us around all the accessible glaciers.

Miles
Today 92
Total 20128

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