Happy at the End of the Earth

Richard and Erin

How to make a dad happy — go to the end of the world to meet him

Yup, that is what happened when Erin arrived in Ushuaia. 

Beagle Channel from our hotel

Old tug in the harbor

A couple of days in and around this town perched on the edge of the Beagle Channel, including a hike to a glacier overlooking the town and day in the nearby national park before Erin took a couple of busses for an 18 hour journey to Puerto Natales in Chile. I left the afternoon before and rode as far as the Argentina/ Chile border where I spent the night in a small frontier hotel.

Argentina/Chile Border Tierre del Fuego

Sheep being herded across the road

Bus stop on the pampa

A day of incredibly strong wind made for hard riding across the pampa with the trucks and busses creating such strong draughts as they came in the opposite direction that my head and crash helmet were in peril of being ripped from my neck.

Torres del Paine

And now the hiking began in the Torres del Paine National Park.

Glamping at Pehoé

Glamping at Pehoé campsite just outside the park gave as the opportunity for a relatively early start up to Regufio Gray, Lago Grey and the glacier above. Having not done a lot of walking in recent months this was jumping in at the deep end with a 24km day with winds at time stopping us in our tracks - but ohh so worth it.

Muñeca with Torres in background

A night in an old estancia and a bottle of red wine put us back on track for another 20km plus day up to Lago de los Tres below the iconic Torres del Paine 

( Blue towers in the local indigenous language )

Old Estancia 

Another hop over the border back into Argentina in our Rent-a-Reck Renault rattled us into the bustling town of El Calafate with the nearby (70km) Perdito Moreno Glacier being the start attraction in the area.

Perito Moreno Glacier

Would you like that with glacier ice sir?

This is one of the few glaciers in the world that is not retreating and the 70 meter ( over 200 ft ) high face regularly calves with the massive slabs of ice crashing into the lake with a noise like thunder

El Chaltén

Having the need once again to put a few miles under our boots we found ourselves in the fun little town of El Chaltén with access to incredible hikes right outside the door of our hostel

Fitzroy in the clouds

With a final 1 km scramble up a steep moraine we arrived at the base of the awe inspiring Cerro Fitzroy ( named after Robert Fitzroy, captain of the exploration ship Beagle that transported Charles Darwin on one of his voyages of discovery )

We finished our stay in this area with a easier 18 km hike up a beautiful valley to Lago Torre. The evergreen birch forests along the old glacier valley were magnificent and the distance seemed easy.

Then came the sad part, having to say goodbye to Erin as we parted in El Calafate, her to return home and me to carry on with my journey back north. I boarded the ferry Eden in Puerto Natales for a 4 day trip through the fjords of Patagonia, a 16 hour section of rough ocean which  made many a hardy soul look a little green and then back into the fjords before arriving in Puerto Montt on the morning of the 5 day.

I sure am looking forward to getting back on the motorbike and seeing what the northern reaches of Chile hold in store for me