El Rosario to Guerrero Negro

Sun 31st July

We set off this morning bright and early (well it was before 11am). There were 200 miles of the Vizcaino desert to tackle today.

For much of the time the terrain was flat, almost monochromatic and very hot with little or no shade.

The only vegetation were cacti of various types, including those huge ones that appear on all those old western movies.

There was some unplanned off road practice with long sections of dirt as well as……

… a large section that was just a deep layer of loose road stones. The wheels went every which way. One bonus of this unscheduled off roading is that Terry’s bike is just as filthy as ours now….. Result

For most of the day the road was near enough uninhabited with just the odd shack or ‘rancho’ to break the desert scenery of sand, rocks, cacti…..

…..and memorials of people who have died on this road for one reason or another. The roadside is littered with crosses, flowers and little monuments to those that have come to grief and is a stark reminder of the dangers out there.

Petrol Stations, like other necessities in life (Starbucks!) were in short supply.

At one point we came across a broken down vehicle and donated to a grateful driver what we had in our water bottles to help refill his overheated radiator.

This was just about the only proper bit of greenery we saw all day.

One of the few locals out and about in the midday sun.

We stopped at a shack but decided not to chance anything other than a bottle of water & coke. This was the only bit of shade we could find for the bikes.

We have ridden through deserts already on this trip but this one felt the most remote so far. There was little traffic on the road and large distances between the few villages that did exist in this inhospitable environment.

Our bed for the night was in the only hotel at Guerrero Negro that we found. We gave the manager 10 out of 10 for supplying beer before we had even finished checking in.