...with my little eye something beginning with R... ROAD! I spy with my little eye something beginning with H... HILL! I spy with my little eye something beginning G... GRASS! I spy with my little eye something beginning with C... CLOUD!" This game was the means by which Dave and I kept ourselves "entertained" on our first day of cycling out of Rio Grande and paints a pretty accurate picture of what Tierra Del Fuego´s landscape is like. Our moods were not helped by the cross wind that battered us for most of the day and meant we only covered 55km having spent 5.5hrs in the saddle. This was in pretty stark contrast to our two days of cycling out of Ushuaia where the conditions were a great deal calmer, the scenery a great deal more interesting, and, as a result, we managed to cover over 210km; not bad for the start of a cycle tour!

After camping in a local "estancia" (basically a farm) at the end of a very tough fourth day´s cycling, we awoke early to try and reach San Sebastian and add another stamp to our passports as we left Argentina. Due to some more difficult conditions, slow but steady progress was the order of the day and after ticking over at about 10km/hr for 2.5 hours, we reached the border control. Having received our stamps we commenced our trip west towards Porvenir. However, we managed about 800m before some near gale-force gusts of wind literally picked up the gravel from the "ripio" roads and blew it straight at us meaning it was almost impossible to breathe. We hastily turned around and dived for cover in the waiting room back at San Sebastian. At this point we were both really low and thoughts of family, girlfriends, friends etc. came to the forefront of our minds as we considered how we were going to get across the 16km of aptly named "no man´s land" until we reached the Chilean border control. However, after an inspirational, Henry V esque "Once more unto the breach, dear friends" speech from myself (that´s my recollection of how events occurred anyway ;-)), we decided to have another go and 2 hours of tough pedalling later we managed to make it to the Chilean San Sebastian where we set up camp and had a well-earned, hearty meal at a hosteria. The owner, not to our surprise, regailed us with tales of failed cycle attempts to Porvenir as a result of the headwinds we had just experienced. However, after explaining to him that "somos mas fuertes que los italianos!" (we´re stronger than the Italians!) that he had used as an example, we attacked the 142km of due west cycling the next day.

In what can only be described as a "character-building" morning´s cycling, we managed to cover 42km before having lunch in the relative protection beside a rock. Rationing ourselves to less than what we would normally eat back in England due to fears over being "holed-up" and, hence, running out of food took its toll on us both. We were reminded of the classic Blackadder quote "God, it´s a baron, featureless desert out there," since, quite literally, trees had been marked on our map to act as reference points due to a distinct lack of any petrol stations or villages where we could stock up. However, shortly after lunch the wind died somewhat and we seized this opportunity to make decent headway into the remaining Kms to Porvenir. The end result was a day where we had covered 80km having been in the saddle for a whopping 7.5 hrs! The downside was this, unfortunately, took its toll on my "man region"! Ouchy!

The final day of cycling into Porvenir was the most enjoyable so far with lovely sea views, surprisingly calm conditions, and a lovely warm sun to cheer us up. Our moods were in stark contrast to those we had experienced back at the waiting room in San Sebastian and we reached Porvenir after 4 days on the bikes. Porvenir is a quaint, little town and our favourite of the trip so far. Our hosteria owner was one of the sweetest ladies you´re ever likely to meet and we rewarded ourselves with a nice, big steak next to the sea. Bloody lovely!

Yesterday, we took the ferry across the Magellan Straits to Punta Arenas where we are currently having a day off before we get cracking on our route towards Puerto Natales and the Torres Del Paine.

Ciao!