We'd been rapt to have scored some great accommodation and meals on our trip so far but our night in Pangapuilli was not one of those occassions! A grumpy Hotel owner, cold water, a cold supposedly cooked chicken and a lousy breakfast did little to suggest that this hotel would continue to stay on the Patagonia tour itinerary.
Mind you Henley foot stamping on our plywood thin floor while listening to music with his headphones on most likely did little to warm our welcome by other hotel guests!!
We retraced our steps from the day before this time cycling into a strong headwind. At the 4km mark we turned on to the Chilean version of the 7 Lakes route cycling past numerous beautiful lakes in perfect morning conditions.
At one point we reminisced on how lucky we"d been to remain virtually injury free on tour ! "Self's"'near miss yesterday with a high speed pinch flat, Pommie Kevs fall in the shower, Henley's sunburn and Julia's thumb injury from repetitively changing gears on her E-bike !!!
At the 40km mark after 2 coffee stops, we entered the business section of the day a series of long grinding climbs (on and off road) that eventually provided for stunning views of the Villarica Volcano.
A dusty stony descent followed taking us to the outskirts of a town (name unknown) where we regrouped and discussed who we should invite to H's funeral which based on the way H was looking on the last section of the climb could be at any moment !
With Kev descended and finally recovered we cycled into town for a late lunch and to end our cycling for the day!
Because of busy roads and distance it was a van transfer to our overnight destination of Pucon with the huge smoking Villarica Volcano sitting right beside it !
A late afternoon walk showed Pucon to be the adventure capital of Chile with activities ranging from Volcano climbing to White Water rafting to Skiing or just simply relaxing on its black sand lake beach !
Henley need not have worried about death from any Volcanic eruption that night as in making the fateful mistake of eating blue vein cheese with my salad I subjected him to a merciless barrage of eruptions of my own back in our hotel room. Not surprisingly they were met with a torrent of abuse !
Some might say that after having been on the receiving end from H over the years that this was finally payback time !!
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| We're off |
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| Lakes before the climb |
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| German ensures we taken the right turn ! |
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| Another Volcano en-route |
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| Some drone time ! |
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