Back home - The Andes Trail has ended!!

Well I left Uyuni the evening of Friday 8th October to start my premature journey home!  Earlier that morning I had to watch as the riders left, and the trucks pulled out of town to continue their journey south to Ushuaia - it was a very sad moment and I felt very lonely, but hopefully I'll be back in 2 years to complete the same journey myself!
The insurance company had got my route home sorted out and I was picked up that evening to be driven back to La Paz in a Land Cruiser.  The journey started with some more Bolivian washboard roads for a few hours, just to give my collar bone a further shake up but thank goodness Didier had provided me with some pain killers to survive the pounding!  Eventually after 9 hours and some smoother tarmac roads we reached La Paz.  I overnighted here and caught the plane to Lima the next day where I overnighted before finally getting the plane back to Manchester, via Amsterdam, and home again on the 11th.  Avril met me at the airport and it was nice to get back home to familiar surroundings, but I was still thinking of all my friends who would now be getting into Argentina and away from the high altitudes that we had been at for so long.
I started The Andes Trail with only one real aim and that was to get to the end!  Only a serious mechanical failure or an impossible to get over physical problem was going to stop me - and that is what happened!  I had maintained a 100% record for the total distance I had covered until a Bolivian dirt road got the better of me!  Like all of us on the trip there were parts of the journey that I found hard, easy, interesting, boring etc., but it was an amazing experience while it lasted.  I have met some super people and enjoyed their company for many weeks, and hope that I will keep in touch with them for a long time.  The Bike Dreams crew were great and did all they could to make our trip as enjoyable as possible, thanks to all of them - I hope I'll see them again on some more trips in the future.
Lastly, to all of you who have followed my blog, sorry it had to end early but thanks for following me on my journey and for all your comments.  If I have the opportunity to end this journey in 2 years time, and if I tackle other trips I'll give you another chance to watch my progress and spur me on again.  Bye for now and thanks again!!

Day 61 My trip across the Salar y Uyuni

About 8am Didier drove me to the bushcamp where most of the others had slept the night before.  It was on the edge of the Salar y Uyuni, but I would not be riding my bike across with the others!
I had some breakfast and chatted with the others about yesterday.  Eventually after some re-arrangement of the trucks we left in the luggage truck in the direction of Uyuni whilst the riders left in the direction of the Cactus Island in the middle of Salar y Uyuni.
I was on the salt but in a truck.  We crossed to the Salt Hotel where the riders would be staying for the night, about 7K from the edge near Uyuni.  We dropped off their luggage and continued to Uyuni and the last hostal of my trip.  The road for about 20K after we had left the Salar y Uyuni was like a washboard and my shoulder took a pounding, nothing that Ewald, the driver, could do but make it as smooth as possible.
We arrived at the hostal and dropped of my luggage and a few others riders who had skipped this day due to illness.  Then Didier and I went off to the hospital for confirmation that I had in fact broken my collar bone into 2 large & 1 small piece as the X Ray showed.  We returned to the hostal and began prepring for my early departure back to England.  I contacted Avril and she found out exactly what the Insurance Company needed.  Didier and I  then created an email with this information in it and sent it off.  About 2 hours later I received a call and the process was in motion for me to come home early!
I just have to wait to find out when that will be, and I will wrap up this journey in a final posting soon.

Day 60 Meteor Crater Bushcamp to "The end of the trail"

Another un-paved day and in the morning we left bushcamp in sunshine continuing on the road we had arrived on the night before.  The road was similar to yesterday afternoon but the wind was much less.  It was another enjoyable day and about 35K we all met up in a village for lunch and to continue the rest of the day as a group because there were so many twists and turns that one of the crew would guide us as a lot of the changes in direction were not that easy to describe on paper.
The after lunch section was going well and we were all enjoying the scenery of an extinct volcano that we were skirting around.  The going was getting harder with some rough uphill and downhill sections and also some very stoney sections too.
Sadly, after feeling that I was mastering the technique of keeping going over all this stuff I came around a bend where there was a large hole filled in with large boulders which I negotiated okay!  This unfortunately was followed by another one where the filling was not as good and my front wheel dug in and I flew over the handlebars.  I landed on my head and left shoulder with a thud and in an instant my Andes Trail had ended!!!
I knew immediately that I had broken my left collar bone and that was the end, just 10K from the end of the day and the Salar y Uyuni - The Salt Flats which were tomorrow.
I lay on the road in disbelief that my dream of getting to Ushuaia was over.  After others had gone for help a 4 wheel drive arrived with one of the organisers, Rob, and I was carefully driven to the finish town and the help of Didier, our nurse.
The nearest hospital was across the Salar y Uyuni at Uyuni, and it was deccided that I stay in the hotel for the night and we go there the next day as negotiating the Salar y Uyuni in the dark was not a sensible option.
Whilst I was in pain it was not unbearable and with a pain killing injection I had some supper and settled down for a nights "sleep".  One split second when a Bolivian road had bitten me back and the ride was over.

Day 59 Alti Plano Bushcamp to Meteor Crater Bushcamp

I realised today that I actually was beginning to enjoy the un-paved sections!  Soon after we left the road changed to an un-paved dust track which was made worse by the almost continuous cross wind which was sometimes a headwind.  This created many dust/sand storms along the way.  Lunch was about halfway as usual and after lunch the road got worse and so did the dust storms.  It was beginning to become a slog to get to bushcamp which was reached after 82K beside a Meteor Crater. Pitching tents was quite hard as the wind did not lessen until around 6pm.  After dinner, which we took in the shelter of an unfinished chapel, most of us went to our tents only to hear the wind rise and more dust storms hit us for most of the evening until just before midnight!  After which it dropped and we could have another cold quiet night.

Day 58 Oruro to Alti Plano Bushcamp

The weather this morning was not very bright and after an excellent buffet breakfast we went out to find that is was cold and also starting to rain!  A number of us were not fully prepared for this and luckily the luggage truck had not left so we hastily grabbed our cases and got some leggings etc. out before setting off.
After leaving town we were back onto the "flat" Alti Plano road again for about 147K.  Lunch was about 80K at a Thermal Baths which some people used, before we went on to the bushcamp.  There were a few dust storms on the way, but the scenery in my opinion was far from interesting.
Opposite the bushcamp was a sad memorial to a Berlgian woman who had died in a coach crash in 1999, the remains of the coach were also alonside the road along with two other memorials.
The bushcamp was as usual pitch tent, eat dinner and go to bed earlier than you would like because the temperature just plummets after dusk.

Day 57 Lahuachaca to Oruro

I have to say that there is not much I can say about this day that varies with my comments of yesterday, more flat roads on which we luckily only had to do 99K before we reached Oruro.  Quite a busy town and a pleasant hotel.
One good bit of news from the group, Martin was back on a bike today!  His bike is wrecked but he borrowed Wilbert`s bike for the day and had a good day despite a few aches and pains from his accident with the Donkey just days ago!  Needless to say the Donkey jokes have not stopped since we found out he had survived as well as he did!!
We will be bushcamping for the next few days so no reports until we are back in a hotel when I can report on what I hope will be one of the highlights of the trip.  We cross the Salar de Uyuni, the large salt flats that Bolivia is famous for.  100K across white salt where we must seriously protect ourselves against the damaging rays of the sun.  So I´ll let you know how we get on with that as soon as I can!

Day 56 La Paz to Lahuachaca

Wel after being unwell yesterday I was not looking forward to the climb back out of La Paz, but it went better than I thought.  So we were back on the Alti Plano which we will cross for most of our visit in Bolivia.  It is a vast plateau and varies in altitude by only a few hundred metres.  It has to be one of the most boring places to ride as it is just endless "flat" roads which are almost always going in a straight line.  A curve in the road or a slight up or down makes a few exciting minutes.  There are no snow capped mountains to look at and it is just a wide flat dusty plateau with brown hills either side.  So the riding for a lot of us is rather boring, some of the Dutch guys enjoy it as it is not as flat or featureless as Holland!
We ended the day after 135K in an "Eco Hotel" which had individual little cottages and very few facilities.  It was interesting but quite basic.  One feature it did have was very low doorways on some of the communial buildings, which I managed to smash my head against!  Now as most of you may know I have not got much hair on top and Didier, our nurse, insisted in shaving some of it off so that he could put some plaster stiches across the wound to help it heal!!  So my day ended with a fairly big cut on my head and a bit of a headache, ah!!

Day 55 Rest day in La Paz

Well it seems that every rest day coincides with me having a problem which is quite good really in the sense of being able to keep cycling when I have to!  A few of us were ill last night after what may have possibly been a dodgy sandwich that we ate at the SOS Children´s Village.  Anyway I spent most of the rest day in bed getting over the night before, so I did not see much of La Paz.  It is a very strange city in this big hole about 400 metres below the rim and the streets either go up or down a hill or traverse across the hill on the flat.
Nohing else to report really so will just put this post up as it is.

Day 54 Lake Titikaka Hotel to La Paz

This day for me was a DOUBLE WOW day!!  We were all still concerned about Martin but had heard reports that all was better than first thought, so we left our peaceful surroundings for the hustle and bustle of the highest capital city in the world - La Paz.
However, on our way we were to call into one of the 3 SOS Villages in Bolivia.  Part of all our holiday entry fees are donated to SOS and some of the riders are also sponsored, or are collecting, for SOS as well.  The village was off the main road and in the middle of the normal tumbled down environment that you get to see every day. The village is fenced off and once through the gates it was like entering another world where110 children live in well made bungalows with solar water heating, and enough space outside to play football and enjoy the few playground features.  Each bungalow is looked after by a house Mama and each house has it's own kitchen, bathroom, bedrooms and dining/lounge area.  We were shown around and the kids enjoyed showing us their rooms and everything else, including schoolwork that they had done in the local schools which most of the older ones were just returning from.  We gave then rides on our bikes and they also enjoyed climbing all over one of the trucks which sounded it's fire horn and had it's flashing lights going.  After just over an hour we left to continue to La Paz with the kids happy cheers ringing in our ears.  I had been looking forward to this day and was not dissappointed, it was the first WOW ofthe day!!
We carried on through ever increasing traffic to reach La Paz, and we finally came to a viewing point where you could again just stand and say WOW!  It is easy to look at a picture and think somewhere looks big, but standing there and looking down into an enormous hole filled with buildings is something else.  It would take us another 11K from this point to reach the bottom and get to our hotel.  This place is vast!
Finally as mentioned in Day 53's report we were all delighted to see Martin walk into the hotel looking anazingly well, with some cuts, grazes and bruises but in one piece.  Another remarkable day had come to an end.

Two new friends in their lounge

The truck gets invaded!

The vast city of La Paz in a hole behind me

Day 53 Copacabana to Lake Titikaka Hotel

This was one of those days when you just had to say WOW!  We left Copacabana after only one night which would have been better if it had been two, because it was peaceful after some of the noisy places we had stayed at recently.  As we left the town we started climbing on a smooth tarmac road and we were on our way up to our first Bolivian summit greater than 4000 metres.  On our way up we were treated to many views of Lake Titikaka, which at 3812 metres is the highest lake in South America and the views sometimes make you think you are beside the sea it stretches so far into the distance!  After the summit we started the descent down to the little town of Tiquina which is the gateway to the Strait of Tiquina which connects the smaller and larger parts of the lake in Bolivia.  As we descended we came around a corner where you just had to stop and say WOW!  In the distance were magnificent snow capped mountains stretching from left to right.  When you stopped and realised that you were already standing at around 3900 metres you began to realise the size of these mountains, you are in The Andes!!
Continuing down to the village where we were all meeting for lunch, before catching the ferry across the strait, it was sad to hear that our German friend Martin had collided with a donkey on the descent!  He was in one of the trucks with Didier and the news did not seem good, and he was being taken off to La Paz immediately to get hospital treatment.  The day suddenly seemed a little overcast, but to give you the good news it was found that nothing was broken and we would all be re-united when we reached La Paz, see Day 54's report.  Just in case you are wondering - the donkey ran off with it's owner never to be seen again!!
The day continued for the rest of us with the ferry crossing and the remaining kilometres of undulating road around the lake to the Hotel Titikaka, which was even more peaceful than the hotel we had left in Copacabana.  The end of a day to remember.

On the ferry across  the Tiquina Strait

The mountains we saw earlier, now seen from hotel

Day 52 Puno to Copacabana

The plan was to leave Puno earlier than usual in the morning, but the accelerator pedal on one of the trucks had broken.  So we left just before 8 a.m. to travel to the border of our 3rd country - Bolivia.

We had our last Peruvian police escort out of town, and we were soon back on the Alti Plano road but today there were a few hills and this gave us some good views of Lake Titicaca.  Because of one of the trucks being out of action there was no organised lunch today, so it was a case of stopping at a shop on the way and grabbing some typeof snack.

Eventually arrived at the border after around 135K which was quite a quiet place and did not feel like you were going into a different country and time zone!  It only took about 20 minutes to get through before travelling the last 7 to 8K to the hotel on the side of the lake.  It was very peaceful and a shame that we would only be there for one night!  The 2nd truck arrived later in the afternoon having been fixed by some local garage on a Sunday for just a few dollars.

We came across the border near Copacabana

View from bedroom window of Copacabana beach

Day 51 Unscheduled Bushcamp to Puno

Saturday 25th September dawned with a hard frost, frozen water bottles and not a very inviting prospect of getting up at about 5:30am!  It had been decided that we get a start one hour earlier, 7am, so as to give us time for what was now going to be a 160K stage to Puno across the Alti Plano, on average 3800 metres above sea level, which is basically flat with just a few undulations and which we will be on for a few days yet.

Packed away our wet tents, ready to dry out at the hotel in the evening, and set off to the rescheduled lunch stop at around 80K.  I got in with some of the fast guys and survived until around 70K when there was a slight incline on rough roads, after what had been smooth tarmac until then, and just could not get back on the back as the rough roads continued to lunch and I just could not maintain the speed!  Anyway I covered the first 80K in 2 hours 45 minutes which on a mountain bike, and at an altitude of least 3800 metres, pleased me and I got to lunch in 7th place, result!

After lunch it was just a case of surviving the boredom of flat straight roads until about 10K from the finish where we had a climb over about 5K which took us back up to in excess of 3900 metres before we dropped into Puno.  A police escort to the hotel was a treat that the 4 of us who were together at the time took with delight as we were ushered through the traffic to the hotel.  Just under 8 hours for the 158K and we were finally in Puno a day late with no rest day but ready to cross over the border to Bolivia tomorrow.

Some riders had taken one of the trucks earlier to visit the floating islands on Lake Titicaca, and some who arrived by bike in the afternoon also had the chance to do it.  I had been there a few years ago so just took the chance to relax!

Frost on tent and bike at 7 a.m.

Laundry time Peruvian style

Day 50 Raqchi Ruins to a New Bushcamp

We found out early this morning that there was a roadblock of a serious nature on our route out from the next town of Sicuani which was about 20K away.  So it was decided that the trucks try to find a way around the town by going up into the hills and using smaller not so commonly used roads, while we road to Sicuani and waited for news to see if the trucks had found a way around the town.  We spent 2.5 hours in the town's plaza resting, eating  and drinking to waste the time before the message that the trucks had got around the town and were on the road beyond the roadblock.
We then road through the roadblock which was littered with burnt out tyres, rocks and other means of blocking the road.  Once we were on the otherside of the serious roadblock stuff the queue of vehicles trying to come into town from the opposite direction was spread over about 4 to 5K.  We found Didier with the lunch truck at about 52K, due to the mornings problems he had minimal lunch provisions but they were gratefully accepted!
We then continued climbing up and over our last pass, in Peru, in excess of 4000 metres, 4338 metres in fact!  On the way down I ran into a rain/hail storm with a headwind quite close to the summit.  I sheltered for a while until it passed and then continued down, but a few K from the Unschedled Bushcamp I ran into another thunderstorm of rain and hail.  This time I just carried on through it and got to the bushcamp in the sunshine but soaking wet!!  The new bushacmp was at 110K which meant that today's stage and tomorrows were effectively swapped around because today's should have been 159K but with the delay it was greatly reduced.  Went to bed after dinner very cold and just got into my sleeping bag to get warm!  Fell to sleep but was awake by midnight and the noise of the trucks all night did not help and so I only had small naps until the morning.  An eventful and unscheduled day had taken over from the scheduled stage.

Blocked trucks, rocks and burnt out tyres in the road

Riders had to negotiate through total chaos!

Day 49 Cusco to Raqchi Ruins Bushcamp

Well at last on Thursday 23rd September after 3 rest days we leave Cusco, with a police escort for about 20K.  Unfortunately after about 8K there was a grid across the road with the slits running in the direction of the riders and wide enough for a narrow tyre to go down into!  Unfortunately that is exactly what happened to one rider and others came down as a result, luckily only slight damage to riders and bikes occured but it just showed that there are not many riders in Peru otherwise the grid would not have been designed that way.
So after the police escort waved us goodbye we continued up and down a few gentle climbs before we reached lunch at about 62K.  Didier had found another nice spot beside a river and we enjoyed our lunch in the sunshine.  After lunch we had the bonus of a tail wind as we continued to climb a total of about 500 metres spead over the many gently undulating climbs in the remaining 60K.
We made camp beside the village where the Raqchi Ruins are and some people visited the ruins and other just visited the village and the little market in the square.

Another riverside lunch spot, thanks Didier

Days 46, 47 & 48 Rest Days in Cusco

Well we were only supposed to have 2 rest days in Cusco but a 2 day national strike started on September 21st, our 2nd rest day.  So the plan now is that we do not have the scheduled rest day in Puno but do 6 days riding straight through to La Paz in Bolivia!  A number of the riders went to see the sights of Machu Pichu by starting on the 1st rest day and coming back on the 2nd one.  All would have been okay except that the public transport stopped on the strike days, so their visit was a mixture of a good visit to the sight but very disrupted travelling.
I have been before and was pleased not to have gone again as it gave me more time to rest my left knee which I hope is now good enough to get me through the rides that follow, it feels a lot better.  I did the usual things that you are now familiar with on rest days, but there was one bonus this time.  One of the guys spotted that Paddy's Bar in town had Bread & Butter Pudding with Custard on the menu!  He knows like most of them by now that I like my puddings, so I went there on the 3rd day and was not dissappointed!!  It was a real treat and I savoured every moment of it!!!
So it is early on September 23rd and we will leave at 9am for the first of two bushcamps on the way to Puno and then the border crossing to Bolivia.  Hope to get back to you all in Puno, but here's what my pudding looked like:-)

It tasted as good as it looks - Yum Yum!!

Day 45 Limatambo to Cusco

The last day before we get 2 rest days!!  Unfortunately my left knee was feeling a bit painful, maybe as a result of the hard day yesterday.  Anyway, my intention to do all the kilometres between the Middle and the End of the world meant that I had to press on.  Not such a hard day as yesterday but it still started with a further climb of 27K and the weather was warm again.  It is quite amazing to think that you are already over a mile above sea level and with these climbs you are going up to over 2 miles or more!!  Looking back down you can see the road you have climbed getting smaller and smaller while there is still more to come.  I just wish I still had my camera, but I know some of the other riders have some photos I can copy.  Hopefully I will be able to get a new camera in Cusco.
Anyway, after the top we dropped down about 10K to the lunch truck which was at a village square so again the locals looked on at these people from the planet Zob who had arrived in their village!  After lunch we continued to drop fo about a further 15 to 20K before we had to climb up to over 3500 metres for the second time today and then drop down into Cusco.  We are staying at a hotel that Avril and I stayed at when we visited Peru some years ago, quite a coincedence.  So 2 days of rest and hopefully my knee will recover!

Day 44 Abancay to Limatambo

This was one of the hardest days in the entire trip so far, with over 2500 metres of climbing in only 116K.  The weather was fine as we left Abancay but we immediately started climbing and it lasted just over 35K reaching a height of over 4000 metres again.  We are going over 4000 metres quite a lot and it gets a bit cold up there!  Lunch was at the top and I had caught quite a lot of people on the way up who had started a bit earlier than 8am, which pleased me as it indicates that my climbing has improved.  My waist size has certainly gone down so I am sure that I have lost some weight which means less of me to get up these climbs!
After lunch there was a descent of about 55K which was on smooth tarmac so made it much easier than the recent days on un-paved.  However, the famous Murphy's Law came into play as there was a headwind all the way down, it's just not fair to have to pedal downhil!!
The last 20K or so was lumpy with a few un-paved roadwork bits and a short sharp climb up to the finish which was camping in the grounds of a hostal.  It had taken 7 hours 45 minutes for the day but I was pleased to get it over with so quickly and to get in ahead of quite a few riders.

Day 43 Eucalyptus Bushcamp to Abancay

A short day, only around 60K but with at last the prospect of getting back onto smooth tarmac roads! First of all we had to climb a bit more before starting another long un-paved descent down to a river. Imagine a ribbon of road made up of a stone base covered with a mixture of loose gravel, grit, stones up to fist size and the famous dust that resembles talcum powder. Add in numerous bends, gentle to tight hairpins, and drape this over the mountain such that you travel about 40K and loose more than about 2000 metres in height. Right now you have the picture you can imagine the prospect of getting down to the river a bit more. Oh, I forgot there is the usual traffic of trucks, including our two, coaches, mini-buses and all sorts of other vehicles. The top of the descent was also misty and a bit cold until we got further down. It took about 1.5 hours to get to the river, but what a journey! I know that with age I have become even more aware of my mortality and so I descend just a bit slower than I used to do, but it was still an real challenge. One guy had a tumble, but escaped with a cut to the chin and a few bruises but was lucky.
After the river we were back on smooth tarmac for the 20K along the river and climb up to the hotel. A short but interesting day and a well earned bonus of a half day off!

Day 42 Andahuaylas to Eucalyptus Bushcamp

Yet again we awoke to another fine day on Thursday 16th September. A climb again straight from the start, still on un-paved roads and with the water spraying trucks out in force to keep the dust down, what did I say about cleaning my bike being a waste of time!! 40K found us at the lunch truck and after lunch there was a brief drop down a gritty road before we had another 10K climb. After this we started the final drop of the day down to the bushcamp. This descent was not too bad to start with but soon had large areas of deep talcum powder type dust which made some of the corners tricky. The bushcamp was just off the road in a small wood of Eucalyptus trees, which was quite a pleasant place to end the day. Once again being well over 3000 metres up it did not take long for the temperature to drop as the sun went down, and again soon after dinner most people scurried off to their tents to get warm.

Day 41 Rest day in Andahuaylas

Rest days come and go, and they never really have any highlights, this one was no exception. I decided I really should clean my bike, although you sense that it Will be a waste of time with more un-paved days to come! Not the most exciting place to walk around and the only exception to this rest day was that I went to an Internet café to let people know on my Blog that I was still in business. My room mate Peter also did the same thing.