Wednesday 25 January 2012

Puyuhuapi to Coihaique & Broken Panniers


Saturday 21st January

 
We left Puyhuapi for another day of mixed gravel & tarmac & we were beginning to enjoy the dirt, Southern Chile is spectacular, you also get the added bonus of great weather at this time of year.

 
Looking back over the fiord, what more can I say!

 
The road twists & turns upwards with some awesome mountain views, we don’t ride fast & we need to concentrate, these bike are however not suited to this terrain particularly when fully loaded.

 
The road changes to asphalt but the views remain the same, we stop for lunch & order toasted cheese & tomato sandwiches with coffee (Nescafe), Chile may be a great country but their coffee is awful, Starbucks would go down a treat here.

 
After our stop we are about to get on our way When I notice that my right hand pannier is at a funny angle, closer inspection shows that the welds have broken where it connects to the sub-frame & is being held in position by the bungee straps.  We look at all three bikes & find a similar problems with them all.

 
Luckily 500m back down the road we find a mechanic who after we dismantle all three bikes welds the appropriate parts & gets us back on the road in a couple of hours, the total bill being £12.50, thanks Christian.

 
It looks like our gravel road days are over & we will have to adjust our route to enable us to finish, we can also re-configure the bikes to take some weight off the frames, who said this was not an adventure.

 
Someone did not make the corner, probably distracted by the view!

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