Chile and Argentina: Patagonia Expedition (Northbound)

Sixteen nights through Patagonia in the other direction, from Punta Arenas north to Puerto Varas, ridden self-guided with the route supplied. Bikes are rented, or riders can bring their own.

Punta Arenas starts it, a windswept city on the Strait of Magellan that was the richest port in the region before the Panama Canal opened and still has the architecture to prove it. The ferry then crosses the strait to Tierra del Fuego, where snow-covered mountains, glaciers, tundra and trees bent permanently sideways by the wind set the tone for everything that follows.

The route then works north through Argentina and back into Chile, picking up the Carretera Austral in reverse and running through Yelcho, with rainforest scenery and some light off-road along the way.

The final ferry threads the Chilean fjords on smooth tarmac to Puerto Varas, a lakeside town with snow-capped volcanoes behind it and a German settler history, where the tour finishes with a toast. The price is quoted per rider. The direction matters more than it might appear: northbound means starting at the hardest and most exposed end while the enthusiasm is fresh, finishing in the gentler lake district, and having the prevailing wind behind rather than in front across much of the steppe. Riders who would rather build towards Tierra del Fuego should take the southbound version, which covers the same ground at the same price. Either way the ferries, the hotels and the route notes are arranged in advance, so riding it without a guide means no company rather than no support.