Live feed from woollypigs.com a pootling tourist's point of view on cycle touring
Leaving Ushuaia
Posted on Thursday January 19, 2012
Ushuaia – Tolhuin – Rio Grande, 14/01/2012 – 17/01/2012. 297Km (Total 297Km cycled) Highlights: great views over Ushuaia as we left; our first passport control; wild camping and tasty camp food; meeting other cycle tourists heading south on the last leg of their journeys; heeding warnings about the wind and learning about what’s ahead. Heading out of Ushuaia isn’t the most scenic route, but after the police checkpoint it all changed. Rolling hills and great views of the mountains made it a pleasant ride, though a bit hard on our untrained legs that haven’t seen much cycling in the last few months. So much for going to a training camp. Not many miles into our ride we spotted Lucas from Switzerland zooming towards us and Ushuaia. He’d started in Quito and was sad to be reaching the end of his wonderful bike ride. It is great to meet such friendly faces on the road with whom you already have so much in common, and to share information about the route ahead and places to camp and eat. We climbed over the Garibaldi Pass which we found quite tough so early in the tour, but if you had some miles in your legs ...
There is cake at the end of the world, ma!
Posted on Thursday January 19, 2012
But wasn't this supposed to be the world cake pootle, I hear you ask? Fear not. We had our first cake of the tour around three miles from the end of the world (as we know it).
La Posada del Fin del Mundo
Posted on Thursday January 19, 2012
s a bit of luxury since we knew when we arrived from Buenos Aires we would be rather knackered, we booked into the Posada del Fin del Mundo for one night.
La bici no pasará!
Posted on Thursday January 19, 2012
We hung around in Buenos Aires in the afternoon, keeping out of the sun and making preparations for our journey to the airport. We explained in vain to the very laid-back staff at the hostel that we would need a taxi which could take a LARGE bike box.
Buenos Aires: the most American of European cities?
Posted on Tuesday January 10, 2012
We toyed with the idea of going cycling on the free bicycles in Buenos Aires, or even to take one of the guided bike tours. But, it was simply way too hot and humid to even consider doing more than slow walking, or shuffling when it got really hot, for short distances. Buenos Aires is built in a grid formation, and the bits we have seen so far are very flat, so if it wasn’t for the intense heat (yes, I know, stop moaning) it would be a great town to pootle about in. It really doesn’t look any scarier than cycling around back in London. Cyclists we’ve observed tend to cycle on the pavement, against the traffic and jump red lights too, though this is kind of understandable given that it is so blooming hard to figure out which of the many street lights is intended for you! The cycling infrastructure has learnt a lot from the UK, unfortunately, i.e. bike lanes around 2′ wide, in the gutter with interesting ‘obstacles’, and covered in drain covers. That aside, it does seem possible, with a combination of good judgement and a preparatory glance at a map, to have a good – ...
