Day 146/164: Cerro Gastilo to Rio Tranquillo – 123km

1529 meters climbing and 1656 down. Gravel all day.

300 meters of tarmac then gravel until we cross in Argentina! The first 14 kilometres the gravel was dreadful. Steep, thick, loose, slippery, and roadworks the whole way, so trucks going up and down. Graders, trucks spraying water, workers etc.

The first 14 kilometres took one and a half hours to get through. To add the the joy it was also raining on and off. Thankfully the rain cleared at about 50 kilometres.

Heading off in the morning (Photo credit: Jo’s Facebook page)

There were more road works at 30 kilometres,  so a few more kilometres of torturous gravel to grind my way through. Lunch was at 61 kilometres, after lunch there was a steep hill straight away with loose gravel so I was gritting my teeth getting ready for a tiresome afternoon.

However, the next 40 kilometres was mostly downhill with hard packed gravel and was a joy to ride. Passed through some forests and lakes, very pretty scenery.

Looking across lago tanquilo (Photo credit: Jo’s Facebook page)

On the road (Photo credit: Jo’s Facebook page)

Another beautiful river (Photo credit: Jo’s Facebook page)

The last 20 kilometres riding along the lake (Lago Tranquillo) there were some nasty ups and downs. I was pleased to get to camp after nine and a half hours on the bike. We camped at the lakeside.

The camp site tonight (Photo credit: Jo’s Facebook page)

Editor’s caption: Not sure if this is the lake they stayed by, but it’s a picture from around the same date, and it’s pretty, so I thought I’d include it here 🙂