| Location: | Ushuaia |
Back to the tundra which, while not the last gravel everyone will ride, it is the last very tough section of Ruta 40 and so everyone is solely focused on “don't fall off!”. Over the border once more to the Torres Del Paine National Park and we are staying in a lovely Hacienda. During the evening the owner arrives in his pick up with two young lambs that a puma has killed. We are here for two nights so we can spend a day riding in Torres Del Paine. There are herds of guanaco, rhea and small foxes. Even after 17 weeks travelling, there are still plenty of surprises when several riders see at the side of the road a guanaco giving birth. It takes ten minutes and mum spends most of this still grazing. Within 15 minutes the newborn is walking, somewhat unsteadily but wking all the same.
From Torres, we head off to cross the Straits of Magellan. This means we are at the end of the continual land mass of the continental Americas. We ride past abandoned estancias on the coast and rusting ships on the way to the ferry to Tierre Del Fuego. The ferry runs about every 30 minutes simply on a when it arrives it loads up and goes back timetable. At each end the boat rams the ramp and the captain keeps it driving into the concrete ramp while cars, trucks and bikes load and unload with the tail of the boat drifting left and right in the current. Nothing as time consuming as tying up!
Once on Tierra Del Fuego it is a short ride to Cerro Sombrero for an overnight stop. The next morning we are back on unmade roads and cross the moor like terrain of the north of the island to another border crossing. The island is divided between Chile and Argentina. We ride on and mountains rise in the distance. The south of the island returns to mountains, forests and lakes. We stay on the north side of Lake Fagnano just 65 miles away from Ushuaia where Ruta 3 ends.
This is the most southerly road in the world. The end of the road - literally. We ride away in the morning in convoy and make our way gently over Paso Garibaldi and down into Ushuaia, the most southerly city in the world, through the city (more of a big town) and onto the Lapataia national park and to the end of the road after a final 20 miles of dirt and mud track in the park.
We park up and then there are lots of hugs, a few tears and a glass or two of Champagne. This is the first Trans Am where every-one who left Anchorage has arrived in Ushuaia. One rider is now pillion with her husband. One bike is crashed and unrepairable and has been stripped of parts to get another back on the road, but we are all here and all on bikes.
After an hour or two, beating off curious tourists we turn and head north. We haven't really done this for 5 months.
We have two days in Ushuaia to reflect and enjoy Antarctica. Time to visit Penguin colonies and boat trips out towards the cape. The second day is Mac's 60th birthday and a bit of a lunchtime party follows. The rest of the day is spent quietly to get fresh for the 3047km ride north to Buenos Aires and the real end of the journey.
