Castro, Thursday

0858 Dragged myself out of bed about 830, hasty piss and tooth clean (bathroom on my floor occupied, ground floor fortunately not, some cunt double knocked rather presumptuously on the *translucent glass* door, WTF? It's not as if you wonder if there's anyone in there) and trekked over to the tour office. Serious mental doubts swirling around in my head. No one... [Since it went well, will say this was Chiloetnico (sp) tours as recommended by guide book.]

0903 OK, bloke is here. It's a not too hilly 38kmish bike ride from some point to the national park where you can then hike the trail and be picked up. This sounds fractionally intense but he says the ride is 2-4 hours depending on how fast you go and I don't have to stick with the other guy so I think I should be capable of that in 4 hours. If not I wil just not do the hike and take six hours.

0921 Still bit jittery but FFS what's the worst that happens? I give up part way. Poster here about "curanto", which suggests that potato chorizo bread thing might be spelled milcao. Did we have a curanto at the hostel in Ancud? I thought from guide book it was a stew, but this poster seems to suggest not.

My knees hurt already! In reality this is from crouching to help the bloke fix the chain on a bike [subsequently he decided it sucked for some other reason and used another one], I think, but still. He asks do I do much cycling in the UK. No! I keep making statements to imply I'm not a fucking expert super fit cyclist. Sod it, about the worst it gets is I or the bike breakdown halfway (maximum distance to walk) and I have to do a 16km walk pushing the bike. Shit, but I can probably manage that. [Interesting I act as if it's a 32km trip here, despite writing 38km immediately before. Gut feel is 38km was right and this was indicating that my brain had already rounded it to 32km. Map or GPS track would provide definitive answer, though not to the question of what the bloke said the distance was.]

1422 At park, got here maybe 5 mins ago. Not sure exactly when we left but prob took me about 4 hours. My legs/knees are killing me but I don't feel massively out of breath or anything. Being picked up at 4 (instead of 5 as tour chap originally suggested) as Sandro (Swiss guy sort of did this with) is going to Ancud tonight so best push on and see what I can see, waffle more tonight over lardarama meal and beer.

1555 Waiting by bike stand, bit worried as Sandro must have got here before me yet my bike was only one on stand when I arrived. Still, can only hope this is right place. Think I managed to trek round most of park (this bit; whole park is huge and includes some bit where AIUI you have to hack a path with a machete, obviously not open to most tourists, I mean the little tameish bit I went to), missed the walk to the beach but still. Views are OK and the park (round here at least) is by no means unattractive but not absolutely stunned. Still, the ride was the thing, and the views en route were very good (didn't take many pictures though) although slightly hard to enjoy when knackered and wondering how much further it was and worrying slightly about dogs.

[He turned up shortly after writing that, then tour chap in his pickup.]

2055 At some largish and very hot restaurant for bife with papas fritas and a diet coke. Will go somewhere else for beer after. Still light out. Gorged on fruit/veg and also 90g chocolate bar at hotel, went to greengrocer then supermarket before going back to hotel, bife a lo pobre was only 300 more but I don't think I am that hungry. Overindulging on strength of today's exertions as it is.

Tour operator chappy clarified the 'curanto' thing on way back. Proper curanto is some kind of hot stones covered with mussels etc covered with leaves covered with meat covered with leaves and then sealed under earth, ie barbecue pit esque thing. What restaurants call curanto is the same done in a pot; in the former the juices escape, in the latter they don't. The latter has a proper name which I forget despite restaurants calling it curanto. So the barbecue I had at the hostel in Ancud was probably in the spirit and style of the former though not cooked the traditional way. I may try the restaurant variety of the latter tomorrow. Arse is still a bit sore from saddle but otherwise not feeling too bad, expect to be stiff tomorrow, plan is to visit the church, try to write and post some postcards and visit the museum, with a visit to a restaurant for curanto for 'lunch' and if that proves inedible another restaurant for dinner.

Not intending to be out mega late tonight and not sure what time hotel locks up (couldn't find anyone obviously staff to ask and didn't like to ring doorbell to attract attention) but will try to find somewhere for a couple of beers and should be back before midnight and will hope that is OK, probably be before eleven anyway.

2135 Absolutely stuffed, had to leave a few chips. Food pretty good. Anyway, let's get bill and see about a beer. Bill 7k, made it 7700. Place is Cafe Plaza on outside edge of Plaza de Armas.

2146 Wandering and wondering if I should not have a beer on 'stuffed' grounds, found a little bar round back street. Sat at bar with a CLP2k one litre bottle of Escudo (paid up front). About three oldish customers sat at bar. Totally not here to meet people, wonder if I should have got a table but woman at bar asked me when she served me and I said bar so WTF.

Anyway, today. So there was apparently some Spanish woman who might have done the trip but didn't, so it was just me and this thirtyish Swiss bloke called Sandro. (His English was good but not 100% and he clearly didn't follow everything I said for whatever reason, his Spanish was approximately my level but we only spoke English between us.) Was somewhat heartened to see he was wearing cargo shorts and a short-sleeved shirt with a padded vest over it, ie not full on wet weather gear. We drove over to Cuchi (sp, from memory) and got dropped off there. I was a bit nervous at this point, hard to recall exactly what but sort of physical jitters around arse/legs as if I was cold but not due to cold, though was spitting slightly and touch windy at this point. Anyway, the tour chap told us which way to go, and indeed except for a slight left-then-right jog about 2km in it was basically just a case of following the (paved, fairly good) road. I might have fucked that bit up had I been on my own but OTOH I might have paid a bit more attention (not that I wasn't) to the directions if I had.

(Bear in mind the prev night I had had no idea if this was some mountain bike ride round inside the park, it wasn't of course, that isn't allowed anyway. We were on mountain bikes though, fairly decent ones if S to be believed and even I could see these were a cut above the crap you hire at eg Coba just to trundle round the park. Tour chap - who left us at the drop off point and came to pick us up at 4, but didn't come with us, was self-guided - asked S if he knew how to change a tire and he said yes so tour chap said he'd give him the pump and showed us the small bag under each saddle with spare tube or whatever in. He asked me and I said no, of course. Then he couldn't find a pump and said he was sure there'd be no problem as the tires were new.)

So I followed Sandro fairly closely as we set off, in super low gear (bike was something like 21 gears but tour chap told me to stick with 'parallel' stuff, so if in 1 (of 3) on the left gear shift, be in 1-3 (of 7 or 8) on the right, 2 of 3 with 4-6 of 7 or 8, 3 of 3 with 6-8 style of thing) as it was uphill. Me being fresh I managed to more or less keep up and it did level off a bit. At some point round here two fucking loose dogs (not huge but not tiny either) which had evidently been chasing some other traffic decided to put their attention on me, but I wasn't in too great a fear of being attacked or knocked off and I managed to outdistance them (plus they dropped off fairly rapidly, as we left their 'territory', I guess). I told Sandro at various points not to let me hold him back, but it would be good if we could stick together until past the turns to the road with no branches (about 2km in).

I did actually manage to keep up with him tolerably well for a while, though after a bit he got out of sight in front of me. However, he stopped at a tiny shop in Huacopulli (major sp, from memory) to buy some bananas and I passed him without realising it until he came up behind me some time later.

We stopped shortly after at lakeside to rest; I guzzled a 100g packet of peanuts (not having had any breakfast), sharing a few with S. We then set off; the weather to this point had been good (the spitting as we were about to set off died away quickly) but it started to get overcast and spit a bit. A good job we were together at this point as he called it and suggested we seek shelter at some house advertising 'cabañas'. I wouldn't have done that, but it was cool, the owner was this oldish woman called Virginia who let us shelter under her porch and gave us some advice and a few raspberries. (This conversation is mainly what I base my evaluation of S's Spanish on. I managed OK while not understanding every word she said. [Locals singing with some crooner-ish song on jukebox.]) I managed to lose control of my bike while wheeling it (not riding) along the drive and up to the house and a pedal hit my shin as it went down, but fortunately not too serious.

It really pissed it down for about ten minutes then cleared. We set off again and I fell behind and didn't see S again until he turned up (he had gone about 5km to the beach instead of into the park, taking his bike with him, hence me not seeing it in stand) at 4 as we were being picked up to go home. The weather continued sunny if occasionally a bit windy (I never took my jacket off but zipped and unzipped it several times, and I was wearing a cycle helmet - we were offered and I accepted, as did S - so not wearing my cap) the rest of the day. Which was fortunate, as it was hard enough as it was and had I got even half soaked it would probably have made it much worse, especially in terms of resting.

I sort of plugged along not feeling too bad for a while, though I did walk up anything even remotely steep no matter how short as riding up seriously took it out of me and I didn't want to burn through the remaining dregs of my endurance unnecessarily. I also took every possible opportunity to freewheel, even on some very shallow descents, telling myself (I was mentally, not out loud, talking to myself a lot) there was no rush and to take everything free I could get. I stopped to rest a few times, guzzling water from either the bottle on the bike or the one in my backpack, and had my second and last 100g packet of peanuts.

From this point on I pretty much stuck in gear 2-4. I did flirt occasionally before this with a change in the hope some gear would make pedalling effortless if slower but naturally it didn't. Anything lower left my legs whizzing round with lesser effort but it felt like I wasn't moving, anything higher was too much effort for the speeds I could muster. And I did try low gear on the odd uphill bit but as noted above rapidly decided that was a stupid way to burn off the last little bit of energy and endurance I had when I could just walk. It got to the point where I tried to coast to a stop when halting for a break so as not to waste a free (well, already paid for) metre or two of distance by braking to a halt.

My arse was hurting a bit from the saddle (S said the same by the lake, unprompted, saying it was because not wearing cycle shorts) but at some point my legs and especially knees and especially left knee were feeling quite 'worn' - sore is not quite the right word. I think I felt more or less OK if still a bit spent up to about the point where there was a sign saying the park was 10km away. This actually heartened me as I figured I was 2/3 there (I had it in my head it was 32km, notes above made seconds after talking to chap say 38km so maybe that's right and it was nearly 3/4). But my bolt had been shot by then and even cycling along on the level was a bit of an effort; I kept telling myself that it was less effort than walking, that I would get there in the end and repeatedly pointing out to myself the superiority of cycling over walking as the not-too-much-worse-than-walking-without-bike effort of pushing the thing up the not-that-particularly-long-or-steep-by-this-point upslopes was more than recovered by the fact I got to cover the next downsloped bit basically for free, whereas walking requires effort both ways.

(I tried not to use the brake too much on the downhill stretches, but a certain disinclination to scrape my skin off against the tarmac mandated a little caution. Fortunately the road was fairly good and lacking in truly horrific curves given my speed and never that damp - though a certain amount of vapour was rising occasionally, especially visible on crests, after the rain - and I didn't have to waste too much hard-earned gravitational potential energy by slowing my descents. Oh, concern about keeping speed so I could get as far as possible up the next hill reminded me of Dave Goulder's song Pinwherry Dip...)

At one point I was resting when several dogs started barking - there was a bit of this intermittently, but most seemed fenced off - and this (fortunately) little fucker came at me. I assume it was just some kind of territoriality (as if that makes it OK that I can't stand in the road without being molested) but I hastily mounted the bike and pushed off awkwardly while swearing in English at the little cunt. The swearing was partly natural and partly an attempt at establishing some kind of dominance with fierce verbal sounds. That shook me up a little bit and I took care to rest in super-desolate spots after that and was still a touch on guard even then. I wasn't in a huge funk but at the same time the fact I was knackered combined with the fear of a dog turning up (especially had it happened on an uphill stretch) did slightly weaken my telling myself that "all you have to do is keep pedalling or walking and you will get there eventually" (memories of Jack Dupree's (?) Walking The Blues triggered intermittently on this theme) and add a desire to be at the destination so I would be able to relax.

I had somehow got the impression there was a killer uphill stretch near the end which just about anyone would walk up, but there wasn't. I remember being heartened at seeing a tsunami warning sign pointing to an uphill evacuation route since I inferred (possibly correctly, based in part on a map I saw at Ancud bus terminal; my hostel there was right by coast and in the inundation zone, not that I suppose it matters, and I didn't know that until I was at the bus terminal on the way out anyway) that that meant I was now within 30m of sea level [Pulp's Common People video just come on TV!] and that there were no significant hills (of more than 30m above sea level) between me and the coast.

Oh, a fair few cars went past, with some clustering of them. Tour chap advised not riding right by side of road so they'd have to treat passing you like passing a car, and I did that and it was OK, I didn't have much fear there. There could be 5-10 mins (guess) without a car though. Still, in a way I was glad as they represented potential aid and comfort should I end up in a standoff with a dog.

I deliberately avoided looking at map on phone lest it dishearten me until I got to Cucao and was resting just outside town, since I knew that was nearly there then. Also I figured, apparently correctly, dogs on street in town were going to be less territorial and pay me no mind. (This thought, generated during the ride not as I write up, triggered Duran Duran's "Sin of the city" in my head.) It was perhaps a km or two further on to the park but mostly level with some freeewheeling potential and lots of slightly ramshackle tourist facilities so I knew I was 'safe' and nearly there. (Mind you, there were signs re tourist cabins etc a large chunk of the way, but they felt less 'attended'.)

I don't regret doing it and if it took me four hours (I can't remember when we set off exactly, GPS track would answer this if I could be bothered to examine it) I am still pleased with myself for lasting the distance. But I wouldn't do it again tomorrow. The views as noted earlier were v good en route but I didn't stop to take any photos, except when I stopped by lake with S early on (most of the ride was along lake shore though) and some 'wtf' snaps when I stopped anyway to take a rest. I also couldn't truly 'enjoy' the view while slogging through it and hoping there wasn't much more of it to go through ;-) but I guess I did enjoy it in a way. I am also chuffed that the fitness problem seemed to be mainly with unusual for me use of leg muscles, not that I was puffing and panting like mad (not that I was going very hard towards end because of aforesaid leg pains, but still). I found myself singing quietly as I rode (in a kind of earworm cum keeping up spirits way, rather than from untrammeled joy); a little brook triggered 'A Policeman's Lot Is Not A Happy One' and something (possibly self-encouraging talk about the weather) sparked The Levellers' 'What A Beautiful Day'. I told myself I should save my breath but I think even then I realised it wasn't breath I was short of, just endurance in leg muscles.

This bar feels v local but not really threatening. This isn't Quellon (sp) I guess. Beer going down OK but definitely not in mod for another, esp wrt unknown curfew situation. Don't feel actively tired but I suspect I wil fall asleep fairly quickly once in bed.

I think that's most of what I had to say about the ride.

2256 FFS,we're being chucked out. UK! [Didn't quite finish bottle, despite a slight bout of swigging at this point.]

2306 Back at hostel, no trouble getting in except now-usual (for this place) uncertainty as to whether we are really supposed to go through the whole handshaking process when whoever answers the bell says 'que tal?' or not, since it feels a bit rushed and hence inappropriate. But I guess it's not as if I'm super smooth at that kind of fleeting social interaction in English either.

Streets by no means deserted but for a Thursday night seems a bit dead. I think possibly some other places open (I wasn't looking for myself) but not sure and not many obvious ones. While my opinion of the place has risen considerably since the post-arrival cafe misery, I am not feeling the 'energy' mentioned in guide book.

Forgot to get name of bar from outside but apart from it not being super great, I could find it again tomorrow (largely theoretical requirement) and if I wanted to find it for some reason on a subsequent visit tonight's GPS track would reveal its location. (I am virtually always recording one now. Mainly since a) my new phone has working GPS again and b) after fiddling with the wifi integration with my new camera and the Canon track-taking app for the phone, I decided I'd be as well to use GPS Essentials to record a track and gpsprune to correlate the two, since that way I can save the track as a track for future use, and I can correlate photos which are no longer on the camera if I desire. Having set the tracking interval to 30s the battery drain is surprisingly low.)

Oh, I did a quick bout of laundry before going out for beer. May go to a laundry in Valdivia or failing that having a private bathroom again will facilitate washing, my combats are probably due even if they hadn't got a bit muddy on part of the trek round the park. (The ride itself was all paved roads, as already noted.)

2345 Waiting to get in bathroom. Could not bother but didn't shower yday (partly laziness/inconvenience, partly as anticipated sweating like a bastard on bike trip, not that I really did as per above about legs being problem more than panting and gasping) and be good to do so. Not shaved in days, did look for new razor in supermarket today but though largish it was a bit crap and couldn't find one. Not saying old razor wouldn't work but is a bit blunt and anyway I sort of feel I can get away with a beard in this kind of slightly rural 'adventure tourism' place. Was thinking on slightly cool (but fine with T-shirt and jacket) walk to/from bar tonight it will be odd to return to warm places when I head back to mainland. But still, weather today pretty good on whole and definitely way better than being in UK.

0011 Finally got into bathroom, shower had hot water, in bed.