3 months gone......

We have been away for 3 months now and all is well! We really enjoyed Argentina and most of Chile so far - some of it is too built up, I suppose we are used to the remoteness of Argentina.

The Carretera Austral was a lovely route, especially the Quelat pass, a very twisty ripio gravel road with some very tight, narrow and bumpy hairpins (J&J - yes, just like the Stelvio)! But with great temperate rainforest scenery!

We camped in the Quelat National Park to hike to the 'hanging glacier'. We woke early the next morning to the roar of ice breaking and falling into the lake below!

Below is the tranquil village of Puyuhapi for a stop over.

Puerto Cisnes, below was a small fishing village we were based in before catching a ferry.

The ferry to Chilloe was very calm and we saw dolphins :-) Chiloe was bit of a culture shock - lots of people, traffic and traffic jams!!

We are now back in the mountains in a lovely quiet area full of volcanoes. Really great hiking here, only met one person on a 8hr hike yesterday :-)

So, 3 months and how are we getting on? All good, not missing much or wishing we hadn't came! Dee really fancies fishfingers, mash and beans and Phil the same but with sausages!

Speaking and understanding Spanish is sort of coming on ok but since we got to Chile it is more difficult as they speak lots of slang and quickly. We know loads of words now so that is good.

Bike wise again all good. The seat is really comfortable. Its a great bike for this trip and riding at no more than 60 mph we get about 50 mpg so we get a good tank range for when petrol is scarce! Its power delivery is ideal for the ripio tracks and large front wheel skips over the bad road surfaces. We recently had an oil change and new Heidenau K60 Scouts fitted after about 9000 miles (inc. UK riding) so very pleased with them. There was still some more miles left in them!

Dee recently bought a new pair of walking boots and sent her bike boots back because they were so hot. However, on day 2 we realised her heels were melting on the exhaust, even if not touching it! So i have made up a double skin heat shield from some roof tin at our campsite and we hope this will work!!

Before:

After:

We have also been having some issues with the Scottoiler not working and a problem filling the reservoir - i didn't bring the original bottle! However, a shampoo bottle with a nozzle has done the trick!

We are looking forward to the next 9 months on the road.....