Carretera Austral will follow me all the way to Puerto Montt

Carretera Austral is properly the most popular road (Ruta 7) for bicyclist in this region. Traveling the Carretera Austral or Route 7 in Patagonia is a lifetime adventure. The legendary road in Chile offers incredible scenery, a unique ecosystem, and a thrilling feeling of being in the wilderness. If you want to go off the beaten track, discover new places, do wild hikes, and meet wonderful people, Chilean Patagonia is the right place for you.
Some parts of the road is a hell cycling on. Road conditions – ongoing road works, half of the way has been already paved, half is still in process.

It was the the dictator, the junta leader Augusto Pinocht who gav order 1976 to build the road for connecting remote village in the southern with rest of the country.

I left Villa Mañihuales early morning  january 4 heading some places up north, but my main destination is Chaiten. However, I haven’t planned exactly where the tent camps will be along the way. It’s about 350 km to Chaiten. The weather, road conditions, and how my legs feel will determine the pace.

The road is paved and not particularly challenging. Moreover, it seems the headwind has slowed down, I swear by how the grass, bushes, and tree crowns bend. I start cycling in a rain jacket but switch to my yellow, thin cycling jacket after a few miles.

Halfway to Villa Amengual, I meet a cyclist heading south, as usual. This man is from Canada, British Columbia, and his name is Favian. A very pleasant guy to talk to.

Eventually, I arrive at Villa Amengual. First, I stop at a roadside cafe for coffee and later venture into the small town that seems completely deserted.

The only things I see are four cyclists, two of whom I recognize from El Camping in Coyhaique.

The other two are a younger couple, a girl and a guy from Germany and Switzerland. They are waiting for the three minimarkets in the village to open. They usually close in the middle of the day. We exchange information and realize we’re heading in the same direction and toward the same goal, Chaiten. I stock up on supplies and then change my jacket to a more waterproof one. The drizzle has started.

During our little chat, we decide that today’s goal is the beginning of the climb over the mountain and Parque Nacional Queulaw. It’s a 7 km long and steep serpentine road through the national park.

The younger couple takes off before I get everything packed. The road is incredibly beautiful, green, with pleasant valleys, waterfalls, streams, and good cycling weather despite occasional drizzle.

I catch up with them after a few miles; they are sitting and taking a break by a bus stop. Shortly after, the guys from El Camping pass by, and their pace is a bit too high for me to catch up.

The road winds between the giant mountains and beautiful rivers, with only a few challenging slopes to tackle. The younger man dressed in yellow often stops and does some stretching exercises for his back; he seems to have some issues.

Just after 5:00 PM, we crossed Arroyo, or Rio J Steffens and reach the intersection towards Puerto Cisnes, Ruta X25 – Ruta 7. This is where the climb over the mountain and the national park begins.

The man in the yellow jacket doesn’t look too good. We look for a suitable place to set up our tents, and I see a curve on the other side of the road with a fairly large green area tand close to a sort of some kind of religious cure with flowers, candles and figures of Christo pitch the tent.

Shortly after, the younger couple arrives cycling, and they also stop for the night.

I manage to set up the tent before the drizzle turns into a more sustained rain. The guys from El Camping, however, continue up the mountain to find a better spot. They come back after half an hour and find a place behind a gigantic sign about road construction.

Now, the rain is pouring down, and it’s hitting hard against my Hilleberg Allak 2 tent. I prepare my food inside the tent, and it’s macaroni, hamburgers, avocado, bell pepper, and a local beer I bought in Villa Amengual.

I fall asleep with my phone on my stomach and wake up to the sound of heavy rain. I look out and see that the mountains are completely covered in rain mist. Tomorrow is likely to be a tough day. Mobile coverage is dead, so a weather forecast is impossible.

This day has been a very pleasant cycling, Not to warm, notr much hewadwind and the surrandings hard to forget

Distance: 90,59 km
Average Speed: 14.70 km/h
Max Speed: 51.6 km/h
Cycling Time: 6.11 h
Total Time: 09:27 h
Medium Temp: 16°C
Max Temp: 21.0°C
Min Temp: 13.0°C
Total Climbing: 1027 m

Talk to you later
P-G
// The Global Cyclist 1726″