24th of January 2017
People often ask: What was the longest distance you cycled in one day? The question that usually follows is: And the shortest?
Well, if you want to know what our longest day was like, you’ll have to wait a bit until we get time to write about that. For today, we’ll tell you about our shortest day:
From Queulat National Park to Posada Queulat
(actually, in absolute cycling distance there was an even shorter day, but we tend not to count it in because we spent all day on a ferry and therefore covered a longer distance.)
A typical day on the Carretera Austral. Yesterday, rain was pouring down all afternoon. We spent a not very fun couple of hours at the campsite of the Queulat National Park, trying to stay dry below the roof that sheltered the picnic table on our lot. The rain got stronger and a wind picked up, so that we got sprayed by the rain and water started running below the table. We stayed like this until 18h30 when the warm water was turned on, and I went off for a lukewarm shower.
Our saviour was a Canadian family who arrived a bit later that evening in their camper. They saw us sitting and cooking miserably in the cold and rain. Having themselves had some cycle touring experience, they spontaneously invited us into their camper van to eat our dinner. It was completed with a bottle of wine (or was it two bottles?) and ice-cream for dessert, what a luxury! When we had finished dinner the rain stopped. We put up our tent and went to sleep happily.
This morning, when we got up, the nice weather was back again.
Weather ist so unpredictable in Patagonia… We hiked a short way to a small lake from where we could see the hanging glacier – yesterday we couldn’t see it because of the low clouds. We spent a bit of time just sitting on a rock in the sun.Then, we walked back in the dense forest, admiring the green plants and leaves growing everywhere.
Later, we took our bikes and cycled the 10 kilometres to Posada Queulat. We had reserved a room in this hotel a couple of days ago as a treat for ourselves. Quite an expensive treat, so we hoped that it would be up to our expectations.
Our room was in a small cottage in the middle of a green garden with lots of plants with very big leaves.
We only stayed there for one night, but we enjoyed the comforts: A nice bathroom with a hot shower, a wood stove in our room, a good dinner and an exceptional breakfast, and the biggest bed we’d ever seen.
After this, we’re ready to tackle the next big uphill, it starts right after the hotel. Fortunately, there’s a huge breakfast!
Enjoyed reading this? Here’s the full series of Diary of Last Year.
Or else, browse other posts about our trip here.