Pucon Chile - Cape horn by bike 'n boat

It's always a good sign when your wife says will you take me to the bottom of the world next Xmas.
Well thats's what happened at the beginning of last year, "sure" I said what you got in mind?
She replied leave it to me

I was dispatched to the map store to get a copy of this..


Over the next few weeks during any spare time the map would come out and notes were being made.
Then I noticed that there were always ADV ride reports being read, I thought to myself we are in for a good one this year.

After a few weeks we had the first chat about the plan afoot.

The amount of knowledge and intelligence that had been gathered left me speechless, knowing that I had nothing to offer, the expert trip planner and ex-travel agent was put in charge.
Word soon got out and a few mates asked if they could join, well thats where it all started to get serious.
Holiday times were worked out and flights were booked. The the bike hire was finalised and booked, then the details where worked out.
The idea was to fly to Santiago Chile ride bikes from Osorno Chile to Punta Arenas then take a boat trip to Cape Horn and Ushuaia.

The others in the group were fortunate to have more time available and picked up their bikes in Santiago and were to meet us in Pucon and ride to Ushuaia.

We picked up our bike from Motoadventura chile a very professional operation with a fleet of over 70 bikes they are also the local BMW dealer with extensive workshop.
It did not take long as all paperwork was prepared and ready and we were soon underway.

Day 1 Osorno- Pucon.



Short ride up the freeway which was good practice for riding on the opposite side of the road to what we are used to. We turned off to do the loop around the lakes in the district.



They had a very wet late November and beginning of December in that region and had had a few land slips, road crews had the road cleared so all was good, we had the odd light shower.



Mostly the road was in good condition.





It was cold and damp so we were rugged up.



Interesting choice of name for the local beer It's a great beer despite the name.

We rode into Pucon at the same time as the other 4 who we were meeting up with they were all on matching KLR's.
Had a great evening catching up and chatting about everyones trip so far.
It was Christmas eve, great first day.

Lakeside Pucon cold and windy.





Day 2 Pucon- San Carlos De Bariloche




We discovered that one of the KLR's had a puncture so we went to he servo to fill with fuel and change the tube, the local police came to see what was up and had a great chat to them about road conditions between Pucon and the Argentinian border.







Soon we were heading toward the mountains.



The road turned to dirt



We then entered the National park



Sign showing the locations of the Volcanos





Fair few potholes due to the recent rains but otherwise the surface was great.





The cloud was clearing and the temps were rising, you could sense we were in of a great days riding.





We arrived at our first border crossing.





All 5 bikes and six persons cleared through both sides in 45 minutes.

Volcano Lanin





It seemed all to soon and we were through the mountains







Every 50km the scenery changes









Arrived in Bariloche early in the evening its a big town that is the ski area during the winter months.

Parked the bikes on the 3rd floor:huh





What a great way to spend Christmas had a great party that night and had the next day for exploring the area as we were staying two nights.

More to come.

Great start, Russ.

Subscribed

Oh! I'm gonna enjoy this. Beautiful pics.
Keep it coming Russ.

Mods salary is obviously too much.

Oh yeah, subscribed!


Woohoo :huh

Fantastic Just fantastic.
I'm in...

good stuff!

That tree in the middle of the road pic:eek1,what a classic!

Day 3 - San Carlos De Bariloche
Lazy start after a big night out

We went for a ride to explore the local area.
The landscape is stunning.





Easy day and time allowed to catch up on laundry.

Russ - where's the rest?, just knocked off work & settling in for a good story, & that's all for time being???
Cheers
Baza

In Brilliant Russ

Day 4 San Carlos De Bariloche -Trevelin



Leaving Bariloche.


Back onto the routa 40 heading south this section is sealed and wide open fast sweepers all the way to El Bolson





From El Bolson we headded for the Los Alerces National Park.
The park is stunning the roads are all good quality unsealed a few shallow creek crossings and some great camping and picnic spots pack some sandwiches and stop almost anywhere the vistas are breathtaking.
Mountains and lakes around almost every bend.



















Finally reaching Trevelin

And.......... :ddog

Day 5.
Trevelin Argintina- Puyuhuapi Chile

We woke to a glorious day, we were crossing back into Chile and working our way from the mountains across to the coast.
After a little stuffing around trying to find the right road out of town we were under way.




We headed for the mountains.









We arrived at the border at Futaleufu' .





Again the border crossings were easy and a lot quicker than we thought they would be

After crossing we headed for Palena





From Palena we headed South East toward the Carretera Austral formerly known as Carretera General Augusto Pinochet the main route south in this part of Chile.









stopped for lunch at the white water rafting centre











Then we joined the route 7

to be continued.

Keep it coming mate.

I'm in

Are you going to reach Ushuaia through Argentina or Chile? I'm 600km North from Ushuaia, just in case you need something or want a beer.