The Hotel Reggiani has been in the same family since the fifties, and it shows. Although I slept like a log being dog tired anyway, I couldn’t help thinking that it was showing its age, with door handles and shower curtains falling off. (more…)
Day 7 – Monday 10th April Being a weather watcher, which is a habit I inherited from my sailing days, I had been keeping an eye on the skies for several days and it became apparent that a big change was on its way. (more…)
Day 4 Friday We agreed that for the next few days we’d have a spot of R&R, so on Friday morning we bought freshly baked medialunas and checked the bikes over while enjoying breakfast. With that done, we took a leisurely ride along the Madryn seafront where we visited a monument to the Welsh colonists, another commemorating the fallen of the Falklands/Malvinas war and then continued along the coast to an old lighthouse overlooking Playa Paraná, where there is the wreck of the fishing trawler, Folías – we would return there later for further investigation. On leaving the hostel that…
Day 3 – 500kms Not being able to sleep through the Rio Colorado thunderstorm, which I was thoroughly enjoying by the way, I slid off my bunk to find there was no power. Fortunately I had scrounged steaming hot water for my thermos flask before retiring and I was able to make a coffee. So, mug in hand, I shambled over to hotel reception using my phone as a torch, to find the owner’s wife wandering around in the dark with a candle in her hand. Later, her husband joined us and informed me that due to a wiring fault,…
Day 2 – 440km After sleeping for nearly ten hours, which for me is a new record, I took advantage of the electric kettle (a rarity in Argentine hostelries) and made a coffee using my coffee pack – a Tupperware container with sachets of sugar, powdered milk, and Nescafe Gold, complete with spoon and mug, which I had brought along for exactly that purpose. I’m usually a very early riser and get a bit grouchy if I have to wait for the hotel to crank up the coffee. After loading up the bikes with our gear we filled up at…
When my sister gave me a slice of slate from her house near Llandeilo in West Wales some years ago, I made vague plans to take the stone to Patagonia and donate it to the Welsh community. (more…)