Trans Americas 2009 - The Blog

Wow... December already... and I've still managed to avoid seeing any Christmas trees or hearing any cheesy Christmas tunes...

With another good day's riding ahead, and the prospect of seeing penguins if we took a detour en-route, I was once again up early and keen to get moving. We'd agreed that as Aaron's previous penguin-watching trip had ended without seeing penguins, that I would lead a small group to the penguin colony at Punta Tombo and take responsibility for ensuring they saw penguins. The first part of the ride was similar to yesterday, battling a strong cross-wind on a long straight section of Ruta 3. We had one brief stop in the first 190 miles, for those with smaller fuel tanks to top up and so we could use the facilities, getting back on the road without so much as a cup of coffee. Riding in convoy with me leading were Aaron, Nick, Al, Pertti and sometimes Late Guy, although as usual he chose to ride his own pace, dropping back from the group. When we reached the turn-off onto the dirt road leading to Punta Tombo and the penguins, he was nowhere to be seen. As we were now on dirt, I told Aaron and Pertti to go ahead, as they both love the dirt and ride like demons possessed by... err.. more demons. The road was horrible, though, mostly loose gravel and with very little evidence of tracks that we could ride on. It was like the worst sections of Ruta 40 all over again, as the bikes wobbled one way then the other, the tyres skitting over the stones and struggling for grip. Coupled with the strong winds it made for a difficult and painful ride – for me because the bike bucking twisted my back, for Nick because the constant jarring sent waves of pain up his wrist which is still not right after his fall on the Dalton, and for Al because of his foot which is still sore from when he dropped his bike on it. What a lot of cripples we are...

After about 40 miles of the gravel we came to a junction with tarmac ahead and more dirt to the right, marking the entrance to Punta Tombo. The road ahead would be our way out and had until recently been gravel, the fact it was now tarmac cheering the 3 of us up no end. But we still had a further 22 Km (13 miles) to do before we arrived at the penguin colony, the road now thankfully showing clear tracks and allowing us to relax a little. Finally we arrived at the car park and entrance to the colony, parked up and paid the entrance fee and then walked along the gang-planks to see the penguins... of which there were THOUSANDS! All over the landscape, underneath bushes, in holes in the ground, waddling across the sand, or just laying flat out resting in the weak sunshine. Some with chicks, others with eggs, and none really bothered by the constant stream of tourists walking the pathways between their nests, poking cameras in their faces. And boy, were they cute...











We wandered round for well over an hour watching and photographing the penguins and their surroundings. Some images images were odder than the rest, like this one – remind you of the fairground game where you have to hit moles emerging from holes with a hammer?





Or this one, as it's not every day you see sheep and penguins together...





When we were done penguin watching we grabbed a coffee and some lunch in the cafeteria and then made to set off. As Al and I were running low on fuel he got Jeff to top him up (I had my extra 2ltrs on the bike) and then we were on our way, riding cautiously along the 22Km of dirt road before getting to the tarmac and making our way across to Ruta 3 again. I stopped and emptied my reserve fuel into my tank as it was clear I wouldn't make it to the next petrol station at Trelew. As it was I still didn't make it even with the extra 2 ltrs in the tank, running out just 4 miles from town. Jeff stopped and topped me up. I had managed just 309 miles on 32 litres of fuel.... hardly great when my normal range is well over 325 on just the 30 litres in the tank. When we'd filled up properly we decided to take another detour, this time to visit a Welsh settlement called Gaiman just west of Trelew. This strange little village is famous for keeping the Welsh traditions (tea, welsh cakes, black pudding, etc) of the early settlers who came to this area in 1865. But first, we got lost in Trelew and had to get a guy in a red pick-up to show us the way back to the main road, something that involved going up several gravel back-streets including one the wrong way (most were one-way). When we finally arrived, the Welsh tea houses we saw were closed, so we settled for a large ice-cream and sat in the sunshine, it now noticeably warmer than it had been all day.





By now it was getting late, already gone 5pm, so we set off once more into the wind, battling our way the remaining 45 miles to Puerto Madryn and our hotel on the ocean-front. Once checked in and showered we met up in the bar to discuss the arrangements for tomorrow, when we want to take a boat out to see whales. Following my success at getting us to see penguins I volunteered to arrange the tour and spoke to the agent on the phone. I booked a car to pick us up at 10am and then a 2hr boat journey in the bay, reassured by the agent that there were still whales in the area. With that sorted we went to a local restaurant for dinner. I ordered the steak, but when it came it was cold so I sent it back, the 2nd one was much better and cooked perfectly. As usual we had some nice wine to wash it down with, and then failed miserably to walk past the bar next door on our way to the hotel, a failure that resulted in yet another late night... good job we're not on the boat first thing in the morning...