28/10/2013 Stage 51 Ranquil Norte - Buta Ranquil

28/10/2013 Stage 51 Ranquil Norte - Buta Ranquil
Untitled by malcandmarjetpatterson at Garmin Connect - Details

Heading for the Volcano and cycling around it tomorrow

The air was still quite cool when we set off in the morning. We had the road to ourselves with barely any traffic as usual. The plan was to ride to Barancas on tarmac (about 30 km) and then continue another 94 on unpaved road passed the Tromen Volcano. But the locals informed us that this was not possible at the moment. The track was impassible as the smowmelt had washed parts of it away, so we were left with the long way round option which would make it a 150km day with 1500 meters of ascent. When a lovely hostal presented itself in Buta Ranquil we quickly decided to make a nice leisurely day of it. The last six days had been pretty tough after all with lots of hard off road and at times serious head wind. It is funny how there is always another challenge. To begin with it was all about the very sustained up hills which could take 5 or 6 hours, then there was altitude to cope with, or lack of decent food. The extreme conditions on the Alti Plano and the Salt flats, unmade roads whether they be hard packed earth, gravel sand or a mix of them all and now of course the major player is wind. The most unpredictable of them all.