Villa la Angostura – San Martin de los Andes (106km)

This is the main day with route winding between a number of lakes with continual stunning views to either, if not both, sides - apologies, but I seem to be running out of different adjectives for how beautiful this region is and the number of amazing views there are.

Albeit cracked and in poor condition, the road starts out paved and I was lulling myself into a false sense of security that the warnings were rather exaggerated and the morning breeze provided a wonderful temperature for cycling.

 

However, after about 30k I hit the road works and then the stony track that twists its way over and through a number of steep mountains. I am pretty convinced that there is a lot more uphill than downhill today so it will be interesting to see what the way back is like – hopefully lots of downhill rather than me just being a bit weak.

For anyone planning this in future, and who is looking to do this ride in a more sensible fashion, I would recommend camping at Lake Falkner - a good distance between the towns and more established campsites than the rest of the route. It is also shortly after the tarmac starts again so at least you have got that out of the way!

A bit later, and after a reasonable climb to a pass, I entered an oddly round valley with steep mountains on all sides. I surveyed this with an impending sense of concern as I realised that there were no real exit points that looked as though they contained a road apart from the highest, furthest corner which had a large, road like scar running up to its top left. The road into San Martin is a famed 10k descent which would probably need a decent height to start at. Sure enough the road rose relentlessly up to that point, even throwing a good few false summits in for fun.

The final stretch lived up to its reputation with broad sweeping turns and a fast, but not too steep, descent into San Martin. The route is hugely popular with day trippers from the town and there seemed to be a whole host of us rushing back to get a dip in the lake before the sun dipped behind the surrounding mountains.