Carretera Austral Day #7 Campo Grande to Coyhaique

January 2, 2020

Campo Grande to Coyhaique 58Km pedaled 

Ride Time: 11:30

Pedal Time: 3:59

Tour Total Pedaled 559.36Km

I slept pretty well along the side of the road on Route 7, about 5km south of Campo Grande. I heard some cows mooing throughout the night as well as the ripple of a nearby stream. 

I woke up at 7:30am as my tent began to warm from the sun. I began the usual drying of the equipment. I had been unable to pound stakes into the gravel the night before, so my fly wasn’t properly stretched. Beads of condensation were dripping on me in the early morning.

Scott made cream of wheat which tasted like wallpaper paste, so I added some raisins. 

Scott worked on his rear wheel. He blew out his second spare inner tube, so I gave him one of my spares. I’m now down to one. I lubed and cleaned my chain. It became overcast, which didn’t help the drying. I had a 10:30am start. 

I was wearing the same outfit as yesterday, although I did rinse last night in the stream. My other outfit was dirty and at the bottom of my left rear pannier. I need to do laundry in Coyhaique. 

I rode passed cow and sheep pastures, against huge beautiful rock outcroppings. 

I met a German cyclist who was riding northbound from Tortel. After Villa Mañihuales there were two ways to get to  Coyhaique. She had taken and recommended the shortest route on Highway 7, which was ripio. The long way around was tarmac, but had more traffic. 

I rode through a pleasant narrow valley with snowcapped mountains in the distance in every direction.   

I was starving and couldn’t wait to get to Villa Mañihuales, which had been yesterday’s original destination. The clouds had burned off by 11am and the sun was blazing. 

I rounded a curve and saw houses in the distance. Thank goodness! Food! I rode into Villa Mañihuales and stopped at the first restaurant that was open. The music inside was annoying, so I chose to sit outside. I had chicken breast with fries and rice with fruit juice. 

It was so windy outside that the awning blew over. Scott and I both had phone service in Villa Mañihuales, so we got caught up on affairs at home, as well as blog updates and social media. 

Leaving town I had a headwind. It was a narrow valley green with mountains to either side. 

Scott got another rear flat, and we waisted forever trying to fix it. Who should show up but Tori & Rachel, the girls we had met in Puyuhuapi, and who had also passed me yesterday when I was fixing my chain. We promised to meet up for beers tonight in Coyhaique. We took photos and shared contact information. As soon as the girls left the tire failed again. Two fucking hours dealing with the tire. I gave Scott my last spare inner tube, and I put it together. It was wobbly but the air held. 

Tori & Rachel had offered us a ride to Coyhaique and were taking the long tarmac route to get there. The fork in the road offered ripio or tarmac. We opted for the real highway 7. Perhaps we should have taken them up on their offer. 

The highway was one lane road. Motorists would have to pull over to let others pass. A farmer drove his tractor onto the road and his dog ran along side. 

I passed a mysteriously green compound surrounded by barbwire. I later came upon acres of hay rolls wrapped in  white plastic. 

Every time a motorist approached I’d have to pull over to the side because I needed the hard tracks in the middle of the road, and couldn’t pedal through the loose gravel to the side. 

Scott was having issues with his front racks which were complete pieces of shit.

I had a strong tail wind the whole afternoon. The snow capped mountains were replaced with buttes and mesas of various shades of brown. Below were green trees that stretched down to the pastures. 



I stopped at 58km to wait for Scott. I’ve agreed to never get more than 10km ahead. It was another long wait. Scott was having all sorts of equipment problems. I waited a long time. 

I asked a motorist if he had seen Scott, and he replied that he had seen a southbound cyclist walking. I returned north in search of my companion. 

His rear tire had gone flat again. Another cyclist had offered help and applied three patches. Something was extremely wrong. Scott and I pushed our bikes south stopping cars and asking for transport. It was now dark. Eventually the nicest man gave us a lift all the way to Coyhaique. It was a 27km gap. We googled hotels from the bumpy back seat, and the nice man brought us to the front door. After I had signed us in, Scott realized he had left his front left pannier in the man’s vehicle. He swears nothing important was inside. That remains to be seen. I showered and left gross brown water in the the tub. Tomorrow is another day. 

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