Thanks to Maggie

It was a brisk morning. Bought some thermal pants and got on my bike for Bajo Caracoles. I wasn’t sure if I would make it in a day because Gerard, the biker, had marked on my map as most of the road being bad i.e. no tarmac. It wa good at first with the wind on my back then the road started to get icy. Next, of course, there was no tarmac. The road surface was sticky and slushy and built up around my mudguards and breaks. Shortly after disaster struck, my back derailleur snapped and derailleur hanger got bent, I bent 3 chain links and bent 3 spokes. But thanks to Maggie at the bike shop in Inverlochy, Fort William, who advised me to buy and spare derailleur and hanger. I fixed the bike and moved on. The sun had gone down which meant the road surface hardened up so I carried on for a few hours. I set up camp in the snow and under the clear sky. Later during the night the wind blow like hell and it was frío!

In the morning it started to snow. I thought I would be ok because soon I would be dropping altitude. I cycled for a couple of hours when a 4x4 stopped and told me there was now way I could get to Bajo Caracoles, the snow was over a meter high. So he gave me a lift all the way back to Perito Moreno. I’ve booked a bus tomorrow east then south to Rio Gallegos. From there I will see if I can cycle north to El Calefate and see some glacial action.

47º05’29.95”S 70º49’25.22”W