28th March 2010


What a day. Absolutely bollocksed!! 8am start from hotel in Rio Gallegos. Approx 50 miles to Chile border. What a palaver, go to counter get form, fill form in, take to next counter, get form stamped, take passport and V5 to next counter and get another form, take to another 3 counters and get a slip of paper and give to guard at border. Hey ho!

30 miles later the piste begins, never ridden on it before. Not too bad, hard ground where the tyre tracks are so riding in a straight line is ok, but for an interesting twist there is loose gravel on the corners – nice! All was well until Nigel and Pete who were following me disappeared for a minute so I decided to turn around to see what had happened to them. I slipped into the gulley at the side of the road and dropped the bike trying to get out. I managed to pick it up but in an effort to drive out of the gulley dropped it again. This time I could not pick it up, luckily a truck driver stopped to help me. Our combined efforts were still not enough but Jonny the Viking quickly arrived on the scene and all was well.

After negotiating more border posts and more bullshit red tape we expected a fuel station. Nigel and I were soon low on fuel and I ran out 2 miles after the bike said it was empty. Nigel went ahead to find fuel. Soon along came Martin, Brian and Suzanne. I siphoned fuel from Martins tank and carried on for a few miles until I had to take more from Martins tank. Eventually we came to a town called Rio Grande and filled my tank. Nigel then went back to take fuel to Rob so we waited at the fuel station.

It was dark by the time we arrived at Ushuaia, the last few miles having some amazing bends but not too enjoyable in the dark. Without a map we struggled to find the hotel but a helpful local guided us too it. It was 9.30 when we arrived. Out for a quick meal and a beer and then to bed. I was woken up by Pete’s snoring at about 4am!