Bumpy roads to isolation

26th Jan, Cochrane to Refugio Rio Nadis (35M)

A huge lovely breakfast provided at the hostel this morning then we were packed and off, continuing south along the Carretera  Austral. The bike legs were definitely recharged and ready to go. The route was uphill initially from Cochrane with good views of the surrounding peaks and an area of incoming grey cloud. We had a break for some food and then soon after we met up with and had a good chat to a couple of German cyclists heading north, gaining helpful info for the way ahead. Other than those stops we made good time powered by a very helpful tail wind and stayed in front of the grey cloud throughout the day although the clothing layers did go on before a final windy long descent.
At the bottom of the descent we reached a junction signposting two campgrounds 4km and 10km off the Carretera Austral. Normally we wouldn´t have left the Carretera for camping as there were good wild camp opportunities around, but we´d heard good things about both campsites and the one further away at 10km offered horse trekking that we were keen to have a go at. We thought it´d be a nice change to let someone else's legs do the work for a while.

So we left the Carretera Austral and it was a very picturesque if not bumpy, hilly and gravelly ride to Refugio Rio Nadis. It certainly felt that we were riding into the middle of nowhere. I certainly a couple of times questioned us continuing as it was off route and quite hard cycling. Once at the Refugio however it proved worth it. An idyllic setting for the house and then the individual Refugio set on it´s own away from the house for privacy and quiet. There were 4 dorm beds available, hot showers and a kitchen area with a wood burning stove. We opted to camp, but we still had full use of the kitchen and facilities and we were the only ones there. Rosendo, the owner was on his own with his kids at the moment so horse riding wouldn´t be possible until the day after tomorrow. He did however provide us with very yummy homemade bread and let us pick lettuce and cucumber from his garden, delicious. We looked at our dates and decided to stay, hopefully relax and do some walking tomorrow, then horse trekking the day after.