Lagunas Throwback

Today I was woken up by the mooing and screaming of a group of cows that had been grazing a mere 100m behind our camp site last night. It turned out that this was their final night as all of them were being butchered, in something that had looked to me like a garage in the evening but was now obviously turned into a sloughter hall, this very morning. Poor beasts.

Both of us were tired and so we had a late start. The morning cycle was quite uneventful, with no shade, lots of sun, and 35°C.

We opted for a lunch break in the shade of one lonely lunch tree, where we got offered some water by a passing car, before ascending to the top of a vast and empty plateau. The plateau greeted us with nothing but...a horrid 4-5bft headwind. Amazing 😶‍🌫️

The sandy views of the open valley and strong headwind (obviously it couldn't be tailwind as forecasted...) gave me somewhat of a Lagunas route flashback, though luckily the ruta 40 remained paved the whole time. The next 24km made for very slow going with an avg speed of no more than 9 kph...exhausting!

I had been aiming at cycling the 100 km to Hualfín but ended up having to seek shelter 58km into the ride at the only little farm on the remaining stretch to Hualfín as the wind picked up even more and big thunderstormy looking clouds started rolling in over the mountains.

We spent the afternoon sitting on the wind protected side of the farm house (which was also a tiny despensa selling water and some crackers) watching the thunderstorms drawing in closer and petting the many dogs and goats.

Towards the evening another cyclist turned up. Julien, from France, who started in San Petro de Atacama a few weeks ago and is on an indefinitely long cycle trip through South America. He, also, had been defeated by the wind today and joined our camp, increasing our party size to 3.

The family living here were very nice and as the thunderstorm started roaring above us offered that we'd pitch our tents under the roof of their garage/shed, sheltered from the rain.

I went to bed feeling like a Wiener Schnitzel, covered in a layer of suncream-and-sand mix which I couldn't get properly rid off even after a baby wet wipe "shower"...but that's okay, at least the tent wouldn't blow away over night and, and so I looked forward to a good night's sleep!

🚴‍♀️ Distance cycled: 58 km
🐄 Butchered cows at campsite: 4
🌤 Weather conditions: Sun, strong wind and late thunderstorm
⏩️ Average speed for last 24 km: 9 kph
🐕 Dogs befriended: 1
🐐 Goats befriended: 1Read more