Ushuaia

We made it to the southermost city in the world! Only another 25 km to go to the end of the road and the "official" end of the ride. We had a celebratory beer last night anyway, the amazing Quilmes Stout (or negro), since it felt right and you cannot have enough of Quilmes Stout... ;)

We left Punta Arenas and the South American Continent on Tuesday on the ferry to Povenir on Tierra del Fuego. Tierra del Fuego was on of those magical names on the map I always wanted to go to, and it felt strangly unreal actually being there. A group of dolfins accompanied us into the harbour of Povenir, they were beautiful to look at. In Povenir we found a bakery that made the most amazing custard rolls, then set off on the ripio (gravel) road to the Argentine border. The road hugged the coast and decended down to the ocean at times. Lovely riding in open pampa-grassy landscape with no trees. The road surface was real good, hard packed gravel, till our road joined with the main road from the north and became washboard again. There was one lonely group of trees that we camped in and met another cyclist going the other way struggling to average his planned 100km per day (into the wind, poor sod). The next day, we had a nice steady tailwind again, spend our last Chilean money on an amazing cake, crossed the busy border and road 150 km into Rio Grande. Easy progress once we hit the seal in Argentina, and the wind pushed us along nicely. Still ended up riding for 8 hours.

To help Tim get over his cold, we had a day off in Rio Grande, where the was not much to do other than rest, read, eat and chat to Ian from the UK, who had just cycled to Ushuaia from Canada and is now on his way back.

Another easy day with the wind got us to Tolhuin, where the hills amd trees started again. A nice change from the flat and garssy pampa, but a shock for the legs to actually have to pedal again. But the reward were treats from the great bakery in Tolhiun and a funky campground by the lake, where we were given homemade camp pizza, enjoyed a stunning sunset and listen to a "jam session" by other guests and the owner.

There only 107 km and a 500 m pass seperated us from Ushuaia. It was the nicest day riding we have had in a while: A steady gentle climb overlooking two lakes, and I loved being in the beech forest and mountains again. No wind either. What nobody told us it that there is another little pass after the decent from the first one. But it lead to a beautiful reddish bog plateau, and before we knew it we decended and were in the outskirts of Ushuaia. It was not the beautiful quaint little town I expected, but the centre and the location are nice. At the tourist information we refused the "Ushuaia" stamp in our passports that everyone was queing up to receive. The campground in town is at the base of its skifield, but probably only 4 km from the centre and ca 200 m up. Real nice place with great views over the fjord. Yesterday was warm and sunny, but we had rain at night and the fresh snow is not far away! Apparently summer tempertures average 15 degrees here, but not today so far..

Tomorrow we will head out to the end of the road and spend a few days in the national park, then return to Ushuaia, pack our bikes and head home.