Chile Chico to Ushuaia

Ruta 40 Sur, see that smile, didn’t last long. I like dirt roads, Ill take one any day over asphalt, give me 619 kms of it, even better, like the Uyuni to San Pedro ride, I was the happiest guy around, however my opinion will do a complete U-turn if you throw 100kph cross winds into the mix. You see when enough trucks travel a gravel road then burms build up and leave you a safe path that is about 2 feet wide flanked either side by a 10 inch burm, on a light bike you cross that easy, on a heavy bike the front wheel tends to do its own thing. I did ok, Graham and Sue did fine, but Dave on the back heavy XT 660, 6 kms from the end he went down and did his knee in. We got to the nearest town by midday but only got the bike in at around 11 pm, together with the fact that I was feeling like S@#T so we spent an extra day in Gregoris then headed down on the next leg to El Calafate. Now for those monkeys out there that do Ruta 40 twice or on bicycles, seek help!!!


In El Calafate we went on a day trip to Perito Moreno Glacier, WOW, that really is something to see, every couple of seconds you hear the ice cracking and every 10 to 20 minutes you see ice breaking and falling into the lake.

After a couple of recovery days we then started the final leg to Ushuaia. Crossed the border twice, met up with Philippe and Obi on one of them. So good to see them again, last saw them in Banos, Ecuador, months ago.

Also bumped into Ingo and Cecelia at a gas station, they were on there way back up.

I didn’t expect Ushuaia to be much, but I was pleasantly surprised, quaint little town, damn expensive, but I made it all the way to the bottom and then in true Cockerell fashion, after taking the famous photos I was in a rush to get my bike out the way and tried to get my big bike though a small space and demolished my Port side pannier, what a bummer. 37,000 kms and no damage, nice one.