We Survived Ruta 25

Ruta 25 was the route we decided to take to get to Bariloche. We had heard nothing of this road so did not know what to expect. It would take a couple of days to get to Bariloche so we were in no hurry.


What an amazing road it was. We rode along the Chubut River for most of the first day, cruising through canyons and gorges, all different colours and shapes

. We even met a group of a dozen Jaguar car owners from the UK and Europe who had shipped their cars to Bariloche and were doing the loop back around to Bariloche, taking about three weeks to do.

The morning ride through the low lands was not how the afternoon ride turned out to be once we headed up onto the high pass.

The wind steadily picked up in intensity to the point that we thought we may have to stop for the day at mid-day. What was going to take two days looked like it was going to end up taking three.

Dust Devils don’t do sitting around drinking coffee when the winds blow. Kitted up, it was get some speed up in the shelter of the gas station before the wind hit us in the open. The ride for the next four hours had to be some of the toughest we had done so far. A head wind all the way made for slow and erratic riding. It was so strong that it cost us to 60ks less in the tank before the reserve fuel light came on.

The small town of Tecka came into view at the right time for a refuel and a bed for the night.

Next day we were on our old friend Ruta 40 again, this time heading back into the foothills of the Andes, north to Bariloche. More changing scenery, more classic cars and a welcome drop in the Patagonian winds.We even lunched with a group of bikers from Chile doing the 40.

Bariloche is a city very much like our Queenstown, with its lakes and ski fields, only bigger, brasher and dirtier. Lots of old European buildings all set to a backdrop of snow covered hills and forests.

We would spend one night here before moving on. A city is a city.

North by North East

Time to move again and cross another border, yet more entry and exit stamps in the passport. It doesn’t take long as once your details are in their computers we are easy to track. Even crossing a regional line or arriving into a major town in Argentina involves a police passport check, with details logged into their computers. At least you know that if anything happens they know where you are.


From Pueto Natales we crossed back into Argentina and rode through all four seasons again and headed for the little port town of Santa Cruz on the windy Ruta 3. Basically somewhere to stay on our way to north. Lucky for us we had the wind from the rear left quarter so we were able to put in some descent kms.

We briefly stopped at Puerto San Julian the next day to check out the full size replica of Magallanes ship. Very well done, but due to a power fault we could not get on board, but then as we were leaving the town we noticed the street lights came on. Oh well.

That night we stopped in Comodore Rivadavia. We had trouble trying to find somewhere to stay where we could park the bike. After an hour of fruitless searching someone told us of a hotel on the outskirts of town. By now it was drizzling and the streets were slippery with diesel. On an uphill grade with a Give-Way at the top and me wanting to turn left it was going to be interesting. To add to the excitement a huge tar mound had to be crossed. You know what comes next. Not wanting to stop and do a hill start with a loaded bike on a wet road I decided to push my way into the traffic but the front wheel slid off the tar hump and we damn near had our first “off ” of the trip. Good thing all that ice riding in Ushuaia had sharpened the reactions and the situation was saved with a quick twist of the throttle. That “Twisting Throttle again”. The beer sure tasted good that night.

Next day we turned inland for Barlioche and stopped for the night at Sarmiento, famous for dinosaurs. We met a German couple who had been at Puerto Madryn and watched the whales at Peninsular Valdes. Having never seen a whale in the skin and with the whales still there till the end of the month we decided to head that way and see what all the fuss was about.

With three nights at Puerto Madryn I have to say it was truly amazing what we witnessed.

We were again advised to leave the bikes behind as the route around the Peninsular involved nearly 500 kms of gravel, which would not have been a problem, but all the other cars and buses would make it an unenjoyable day of eating dust. A small bus tour was booked that night.

Next morning we are advised that the bus had been over booked.

Damn!.######, Damn!

"No problem, Senor."

An English speaking driver will pick you up by car and give you a personal tour of the Peninsular. We could not believe it, our very own tour guide in a chauffer driven car. No 50 kmh bus speeds here. It was 100kmh all day. Starting at 7.30am and finishing at 7.30 that night. That was really beyond what they had to do as most companies would shrug their shoulders and place you on the next bus.

Not only the whales but all the wildlife use the Peninsular as a breeding ground as it is a very rich area for seafood. This is the area where the Killer Whales slide up onto the beach at high tide to catch seal pups.

The whales were something else altogether. You could stand on the shore and watch them swim by. Southern Rights come here every year from June through to November to calve and fatten before heading north. We picked up the tail end of the season but within 200 metres of the shore we were watching the young leaping out of the water, tail and fin slapping and we were getting hit by the breathing spray. The amazing thing was that the boat, and it was only a little one, just sat in the water, no motor running and these great monsters would swim over, check the boat out and swim directly underneath us. No wonder this has been described as one of the best whale experience destinations in the world. Every direction we looked we could see whale movement, from shoreline to the horizon in the bay. A very memorable day.

Two hours was not enough.

From here it will be onto Ruta 25 heading to Bariloche with maybe some more bike photos for you hardcore Devils.

After waiting for a couple of days for the weather to settle down we headed north and retraced our wheel tracks back through Tierra Del Fuego heading for Puerto Natales and Torres del Paine National Park. The ride north consisted of the usual wind, rain,and snow. Coming over the snowy pass from Ushuaia we came across two riders from Brazil, one of whom had binned his bike on the ice and snow. No damage done to rider or bike but they had never experience ice before, so it came as a bit of a shock.


We spent the night in Rio Grande then crossed the boarder into Chile the next day at San Sebastian. A quick and calm crossing of Magallane Straights and it was on to Punta Arenas for the night. Next day was a long hard whack into a head wind to get to Puerto Natales. A bit of a nothing town, but it is the gateway to the Park. We had been advised to leave the bike and do the trip in the park in a mini van which turned out a good idea as the road was terrible and the winds strong and cold coming off the snowy peaks . In true South American style we were the last to be picked up and ended up sitting backwards behind the driver watching where we had come from and watching everyone else watching where we were going. You had to laugh.

Every vehicle on this road had cracked windows, not from stones but from the flexing of the vehicles on the corrugations etc. At times it felt like a we were in a washing machine. Auto shops do a brisk business over here.

It was a great day out and the park is really something. With  different views of the mountains at every turn in the road. The wildlife was fantastic, Fox, Condor etc, but we have yet to see a Puma. They are about but you would be very lucky person to see one in the wild.

From the park we visited the massive cave where, at the turn of the century, the complete remains of a large, Sloth like creature was found, complete with hair etc, also human remains were found in the same cave suggesting they all lived here at the same time. An interesting place in deed.

Tomorrow we cross back into Argentina and continue north.