26th November 2011
Now I hadn´t really looked closly at our map on this part of the trip and to be honest I'm bloody pleased I hadn´t, because today we had a rather big climb to do!
Our camp last night was at an altitude of 3475m and the max height for today was to be 4080m and this happened in the first 15km.I had to chuckle at the time as Sarah knew it was comming and she had stopped on a corner to wait for me, but just before I got to her a large lorry past me, the next time I saw the lorry it was way above me on the upper part of the road. Oh Bugger! Our rewards for the long climb were spectacular veiws and the knowledge we were only 800m or so lower than the summet of Mont Blanc!

The desent was awesome too! The only down side was at the bottom we were soon back on the dirt roads and trying to find a smooth line.
After a few miles we found the junction to Route 40 and the next part of our trip. We stopped, had some lunch, found a small river to replenish our water supplies and started our journey up Route 40. Not long until we hit sand and had to start pushing. Then the first freezing cold drops of rain started to fall and this is where I fell apart. The combination of cold and the altitude meant I was struggling and struggling alot! So the decision was made to backtrack abit and head to San Antonio de los Cobres which was 15km out of our way, but had warm food and  places to stay. We stayed at one of these places, 'El Rancho', it was rustic to say the least (my matteress looked like a bannana)! The meal we had out though was lovely and we can both heartly recommend llama steak and stew.