Villa Cerro Castillo to wild camping site

Gaucho on the Carretera Austral
Gaucho on the Carretera Austral

Refreshed after a good sleep, we ate breakfast, packed up and commenced battle with the ripio. It was really tough initially, dust, stones and hills, we had trouble gaining traction and our rear wheels slipped under our weighty bikes. We released some air from our tyres which made it a bit easier and the surface improved after about 5km. We were making slow progress and glad that we’d opted to stay overnight at Villa Cerro Castillo.

We met a cyclist from London hoping to get to Puerto Rio Tranquilo in two days. This was our ambition too, and one we achieved though not the way we’d intended. Soon we had to accept that we wouldn’t make the 77km to our destination and settled for a wild camp in a clearing. There are no campsites between Villa Cerro Castillo and Puerto Rio Tranquilo and few wild camping locations. We arrived early at 16:15, set up the tent and worked out how to use our water purification system. We took water flowing from a stream into the river. Two British cyclists arrived at 21:00 to camp.

Wild camping site to Puerto Rio Tranquilo