The World's End (Guided)

Fourteen nights through Patagonia, guided, from Temuco in Chile to Punta Arenas, with an optional extension on to Ushuaia.

This is the guided version of the same route Ride Expeditions sell self-guided, and the finish is different: the standard schedule ends at Punta Arenas, with a paid three-day extension including a ferry crossing for anyone who wants to reach Ushuaia, the actual southernmost city on the planet, which is worth deciding on before booking rather than after.

The Ruta 40 and the Carretera Austral carry the route south, zigzagging between Argentina and Chile. The marble caves come early, where the water has cut swirling patterns into a marble headland, then the Perito Moreno Glacier, which calves into a lake in front of a viewing platform, and Torres del Paine with its granite towers. El Chalten follows under Mount Fitzroy, the trekking capital of Argentine Patagonia, with the Puyuhuapi lodge, the Patagonian lakes and wild horses along the way.

Bike hire is included, on a KTM 890 Adventure with a BMW R1250 GS available as an upgrade, and a discount applies for anyone bringing their own. Fifteen days with a guide out front is the easier way to do Patagonia, where the wind, the gravel and the distances between fuel stops all make their presence felt. The season runs roughly November to March, and the crosswinds on the Ruta 40 are the thing nobody warns about enough: they can move a loaded bike across a lane and they blow for days at a time. The lodge night at Puyuhuapi is the one comfortable stop on the route.