Day 374 Sunday 23 November Osorno to Hornopiren 266km

Last night we sat in Rockies room eating nuts, biltong and crisps, (we call this an Oros Dinner as we then dont go out for dinner,)  looking at YouTube Videos of Route 7, calculating distances, checking for accommodation and fuel along the way, and checking Ferry Times. I scribbled our Route Planning on the back of the hotel’s Mini Bar Price List (the hotel is the best we have had on this Leg, the Mini Bar stocked with 2 Cokes and 2 Waters, hardly 5 Star, more like a Holiday Inn.)

No comments about my handwriting please, I am left-handed and got a little ADHD which was never treated, and my grade 2 teacher beat me with a broom-stick until I switched to writing with my right-hand, grade 1 I was allowed to write with my Left Hand, and then in grade 3 I went back to the left hand.

There is a lot of gravel along the route, and it is very difficult to judge how good or bad the gravel is as you dont know how good the rider Posting his\her video on YouTube is, so what might be very difficult to one will be breeze to others. We also did not want to race through Route 7 as there are beautiful hikes, waterfalls and attractions along the way. So we made our planning very conservative and might crank-up the distances once we are deeper into Route 7.

This morning we had breakfast included, which consisted of a Buffet with lots of Cakes and bread, but did have scrambled eggs as well, with juice and cereal, (so also the best Breakfast of this leg.) During this breakfast Peens suggested we change the route, the one we decided on last night, the famous Route 7,  included a section of highway, 1 ferry and it passed through a large town. Peens’s Route was 1,5 hours longer, about the same distance, but included two long sections of gravel, but it was clear that it was going to be a very scenic route, it was called the V691. So we decided to take that route. We rode into the 1st Fuel Station and was pleasantly surprised to find that there was not a single other customer and that the fuel problems we had in Argentina was behind us, for now.

The scenic route did not disappoint. We set off through lush green farmlands which later made way for a tunnel of trees, for many kilometers, and then came the lakes, and the snowcapped mountains in the distance were ever present.

Did any of you followers notice from the photo above that I fitted a new Touring Screen, a clear one. My previous screen was “Smoked” (darker) and had lots of Gorilla Tape holding it in together. I also had my two African Dolls on that screen, looking ahead at the road, but these two are new as I  have to change my dolls every 3 or 4 legs as the wind knots their hair and then they start losing their heads. I also have a little Angle that rides along,( will take a photo of her tomorrow.)

We kept our eye open for Jaguars when passing through the National Park. We did see a Fox.

We stopped for a very good cup of coffee and cinnamon buns at a very “rustic” place next the to lake, owned by a couple who also sold home made clothing and hats :

And all of a sudden my Yellow Sweet Smelling Flowers were back !!!!!

The 1st section of gravel was not too bad, but oh boy oh boy, the 2nd section was really like riding on marbles. What I could not believe was how big the Fish Farming in the lake was. Well it was not actually a fresh water lake as it must have an opening to the sea as we could see it was low-tide and the water had pulled back on the shore-line, but all along the deeper side there were fish-farms, but not just Salmon, also Mussels and Prawns were farmed here. I am not exsagerating if I say we rode past at least 100 farms.

We suspect there is ac bucket filled with sand in which Prawns are farmed in the photo below, but we are not farmers, we debated it could also be a long rolled up part of a fishing net on which mussels are grown:

The two sections of gravel were connected with a long section of tar road which snaked along the shore-line, we had a lovely ride today. For lunch we stopped at a small little restaurant ran by a husband and wife, a 20 seater restaurant, where we ate fresh Salmon, grilled with Pappa Fritas (French Fries,) and also ordered 3 Muscle & Prawn “Pots” which were served mixed in rice, that sucked up the sauce, BEAUTIFUL !!! So fresh and tasty. I forgot to take a photo, can’t believe it. When I thanked the wife who cooked the food by giving her a little wire animal she came running out from behind the counter and gave me a big hug, pressing her hair net deep into my face, I did not mind, it was just nice to get a hug, not lots of hugging between us friends, we are from the old-era,

There is also lots of Tourism based on the fishing and the lake. With photos of these big catches advertised at each of the little tour operators little wooden “office’s” that we rode past.

Some of today’s photos :

This town is so small we battled to find a place to have a beer while looking for accommodation, but we found this little Supermarket with some stools outside which just had to do:

As I am writing this Blog from the foyer of our very small little hotel at Hornopiren, (a ferry-stop-town,) some of the guys are out repairing my bike, fixing what our Tyre Man damaged in Mendoza when he fitted my new tires. There is a metal perforated “ring” around the inside of the rim which the ABS Sensor monitors, when the openings in ring stops coming past the sensor, it knows the back wheel has stopped turning and it releases the brake, that is how ABS works. Well, said tyre-man damaged this ring when he fitted the tyre and my ABS stopped working.

They decided to up-date me with their progress by sending me photos as they progressed while I am typing away:

I did get a shock when I got these photos. Here is Rocky and his cousin,  Big Rock, hammering the ring that was bent straight again:

But then I remembered how Pie was hammering away on his bike’s rim in rural China, with his beloved Copper Hammer, (to great delight of the toothless-crowed that had gathered.)  So I knew they were joking around, been friends for 30 years, no way Rocky would be given the job to straighten the ring. I have now heard from Tex that this ring was sandwiched between two pieces of wood and then hammered with this rock until it was straight. I will take DadAss for a Test Drive now as I need to go and collect my laundry from the lady we had found while drinking a beer.

Tomorrow we will fill up with fuel and then go to the ferry, 700m away from our hotel, it is a 4 hour ferry ride, apparently beautiful scenery along the way, sounds like a narrow channel. It will also be the longest ferry ride of Route 7 and the only one to pre-book on line for, which is good news for me. We had to buy the tickets on line last night, and no group bookings and payments, each had to pay and book separately,  and as I was the only guy with a Laptop it was my job to “process” each Booking. I am defiantly not very good with websites and computers and was given very little patients, but when I did the last persons booking and payment it took me only 6 minutes, and that was because Millsy was a little slow with finding info I asked for from his Passport, and info stored on his phone, and from his Credit Card. The 1st few took very long as the website could be switched to English, but only the 1st few openings were in English, the rest we had to use my cell phone and Google Translate to try and figure out what they were asking to fill into each block.

So we are ready for our ferry tomorrow.

More stories and photos tomorrow. Hope you all have a great week.

XXXXX

Fleisch