We headed out of the pretty town of Villa Pehuenia after a quick stop at the amazing Pastry shop we discovered the day before. Wow, croissants and caramel filled chirroz,...delicious
We followed a quiet sealed road up to the Argentinian border post, checked out and continued down to the Chilean side.
Returning to Chile felt like going home. We passed through the town of Icalma which had a beautiful lake and amazing views on a still day.
After a huge downhill we were back to blackberry picking and....... we found an apricot and peach tree.... we LOVE you Chile
We slept in an old shed to shelter from the rain about 10km out of Melipeuco after a 77km day. We were so happy to be able to camp out of the rain...we could even close the doors to keep the local pigs and cows out.
This turned out to be one of our best days yet
We had quite a climb on an old dirt road which took us into an area that had recently suffered fire damage. We were somewhat concerned biking in as we sore helicoptors and CONAF fire trucks. We stopped one of the rangers and asked if it was safe to pass and he gave us the go ahead.
It was still pretty disconcerting cycling through smouldering tree stumps and smelling fresh smoke. Seeing a friendly man on his horse droving cattle down the road reassured us there was a clear road ahead and we continued on
The colours were amazing on the other side of the hill. We struggled to make progress as we stopped to take so many photos, it was truely incredible.
Everytime we stopped to take a photo, we suffered incredible leg burn as we peddled off again. This didn´t stop us but we did wonder why it was happening now.
We found a cool little spot and enjoyed cold chocolate milk, croissants and peaches...mmmh
Not far from our lunch spot we found this rough shelter. A family must have been staying here - amazing, it was miles from anywhere
The trail took us down to a gravel road which took us to a sealed road. Here we had to make another direction choice. Right to the pass leading to Argentina or Left to spend more time in Chile. The promise of hot springs in Chile as well as our experience with the fruits of the land won. Left it was.
We got to a 4km tunnel only to discover bikes were not permitted. A nice fellow cyclist who had driven his truck passed us a few minutes earlier was waiting in the traffic cue (one way tunnel) offered to give us a lift.
He dropped us off in the town of Malalcahuello 1 km from the hotpools. We were so excited and set off up the hill only to discover they were closed for maintenance. Gutted, we headed back to town with our tail between our legs and found a campsite at the CONAF headquarters. Once again inside a shed. We headed into town and treated ourselves to Pizza and a hot chocolate...the best hot chocolate we´ve ever had
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