South America
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Mendoza, Central Argentina
‘Part Fifty’ eh?! I must really be doin’ some hard travelin’. Either that or I just keep on writing. When the copy is just this good it is very difficult to stop! Am in the lovely lovely city of Mendoza. Tree lined wide avenues, coffee shops a-plenty (with delicious mini-chocolate-cakes), top quality BBQ grills and…
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Over The Andes again into Northern Argentina
I have finally made it to Argentina, 14 months after setting out for Alaska. I travel South East from San Pedro de Atacama into the Atacama Desert and cruise along the edge of the salt plain. The road then peels Eastwards up from the desert floor into the Andes again. The pass from Chile to…
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La Paz to South West Bolivia
Well, that was a ride and a half! Three weeks from La Paz riding south to the Chilean border through some very inhospitable terrain but also some absolutely breathtakingly beautiful country. The Lonely Planet has it right, Bolivia is: “…the hemisphere’s highest, most isolated and most rugged nation, it’s also among the earth’s coldest, warmest…
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Into Bolivia
The ride through the mountains of Peru is finally at an end. That was a mere 3,471km of cycling laterally and 53,000 metres of cycling vertically that I will not forget in a hurry. There could not have been a happier nor more relieved cyclist than your correspondent as he crossed the border into Bolivia.…
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Cuzco and Machu Picchu, Peru
Machu Picchu has to be done. Yes, in order to get there to take ‘that photo’ you have to join the throng of tourists and be prepared to endure a good dose of the local sport of ‘tourist fleecing’ from railway, bus and tour operators, hotel managers and local vendors. But such is the wonder…
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New Video: Peruvian Andes Biking
To mark the completion of The mountain passes of the Andes, here is a new video. You might recognise the music (‘El Caminante’) which is now the official anthem of my Pan-American bike ride.
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End of the Andean Mountain Passes, Peru
This morning finds your correspondent in the Starbuck’s in Cuzco sucking on a triple shot latte having just had a huge breakfast at Paddy’s pub. Am surrounded by ever-so-serious looking designer tourists talking earnestly of their impending adventure to Machu Picchu. They seem to have no idea that they are in the company of bicycling…
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One Year on the Road
Forget the Olympics! In the history of human endeavour July 2012 will be marked not by beach volley-ballers bearing their collective firm buttocks for country and ratings or synchronized swimmers doing whatever the hell it is they do for reasons that still elude this author. It will, rather, record that on the 27th of July…
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Huascaran National Park, Peru
Well Peru has cranked up the volume on the scenery another few notches as the road cuts through the Huascaran National Park and the magnificent Cordillera Blanca mountain range. The ride across the range is one of the highlights of the Peru part of the trip and the Punta Olimpica Pass that crosses the range…