Back to Chile

There was a little confusion over the route and we ended up doing a 60km round trip in the wrong direction, back tracking to Uyuni before eventually getting on track to head over the Andes. Both Phil and I were by this point running on well worn tyres, with several repairs each. As the remaining rubber and repair plugs were now so thin we had to top up on air regularly. Several compressors have now died and we are down to my foot pump and CO2 canisters. In retrospect we should have changed tyres in Uyuni, but as most of the route was piste, running on low pressure was not too problematic. It did of course expose our Marchesini wheels a little bit and Phil has picked up a few more dents.

Andy's Harley was also running on a very worn tyre and he picked up a very large slash. Unfortunately he had also damaged his spare tyre as it had been rubbing against the back wheel. This meant we were unable to change it by the road and the Harley became the first bike on the trailer.

Due to the regular stops we were running a few hours behind schedule. This meant the sun was going down as we crossed the Andes at 4500 meters. We were rewarded with views of active volcanoes, salt flats and lakes, all bathed in pink evening light. It was a real spine tingling moment and despite the tough roads I realised how privileged I was too be doing this trip.

It was late by the time we reached the Chilean border and the officials were not pleased. Thanks to Erik we got through, but not until the customs officers had made us unload the bikes, truck and trailer. No effort was made to actually look at the contents of our bags and once we had unloaded we they we were told we could leave. As it was late we took up the option of staying in a hostel, rather than camping with the rest of the group in the sub zero temperatures.

The next morning, after topping up the tyres, we set off again. While still surrounded by mountains the route was much flatter, taking us across the Atacama - an area where it never rains making it the driest place on the planet. Active volcanoes puffed with smoke and the flat planes are covered in the debris of past eruptions. We camped just after a customs check point in the desert.

My head bearings have developed a notch at the centre point. Some of the other bikes had this problem earlier on so we'll strip them down in a few days and grease everything.