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Having arrived in sunshine in Osorno and wished I’d carried on. It was the most unwelcome of places i’d stayed during my trip so far. So where else to have .....you guessed it; a problem with the trailer! I arrived on the Friday afternoon and rather than suffer too long with the trailer, I decided to book into a hotel. I made the mistake of choosing (semi luxury) over a hostel, given that there was only about 5 pesos difference. I should have opted for the hostel, though the deciding factor was that they were only able to leave the bike outside in the rear courtyard, the hotel said that they could keep it undercover.

Though the initial welcome by the girl at reception was very nice, I found the hotel to be less than welcome. The room was clean enough, but the TV didn’t work, the shower was always cold ( which isn’t a problem if you spend half your time swimming in freezing cold lakes), but on occasions it’s nice to have a warm shower! It was just after this saga on Saturday that I found I had a problem with the trailer, just as I was preparing the bike for the next day.

The hotel was run by these two young guys over the weekend and they seem to find it really amusing that I couldn’t find a nut and bolt for my trailer! (I know those that have read about the saga of the trailer will probably also find that amusing!) Though I ought to have booked out and moved into the hostel along the road, I decided it was too much hassle. Instead I tolerated their behaviour, though didn’t spend much time in the hotel. That said the town didn’t have much to offer. I probably didn’t find the best parts, but it what I saw was pretty grim. The only two pieces of architecture that impressed was the railway station and a community building. One guy, by the name of Claudio who was the president of the community sports and arts building, was the exception to the rule in Osorno, and invited me on a tour of the building. With a bit of tender love and care it could have been a really nice building, but no doubt the gobierna local had other priorities to address. Been there!......Town hall!...remember? Theire somewhat unattractive cathedral, a concrete structure, was probably one of those priorities. It didn’t take an expert to not that it was suffering, most likely from concrete cancer

The other thing that I found really annoying was the fact that everything, and I mean everything except for the large supermarkets, were closed on a Sunday . You couldn’t find a restaurant, pub or cafe open. Now in a hostel, that’s ok, so long as it provides kitchen privileges, because you can cook your own food. But in a hotel you can’t cook food, and the hotel didn’t offer any food other than breakfast. So olives, some cheese and bread in the room was my food for the day, along with a few cold drinks.

The last straw, was the football team that was staying over, presumably playing Osorno! I’m amazed these guys were able to play the next day, because they spent the night and throughout the early hours of the morning playing what I assume were cards, or some other game that brought hoots, cheers and banging on walls and floors until three in the morning. Now in Bariloche, the delightful Valeria would have sorted them out, but here they were allowed to continue unabated.

I can’t say I was disappointed to leave this place, and had unfortunately spent too long there. There is no doubt that the beauty of Osorno is in its surrounding area like Puyehue and the volcanoes, which are spectacular.. I feel fortunate to have managed to get photos showing them in their best light, so to speak....... sunset!

Once the shops opened at ten, I bought the necessary nuts and bolts, fixed the bike and was on my way

Ruta 5 was for the most part, really good. Road was in good condition, as was the hard shoulder, which was a good job given that cars and buses were passing at 100 miles per hour! I made good time too and had completed just over 50 miles in 3 ½ hours. I stopped at a services station for a snack before continuing. As I cycled in past the fuel pumps, I stopped to ask the guy for Noventa Siete por favor. He looked at the bike and looked at me. It was clear he was either thinking hard about it or had had a humour bypass. I proceeded to the service station cafe, had a tea and a couple of empanadas and was on my way.

Not for the first time had the terrain got the better of me. I was confident that I would reach Valdivia that evening when both the condition of the roads, the hills and rain conspired to make it impossible. I stopped at this Agro tourism cafe and restaurant to ask if it would be possible to pitch the tent in the grounds for the night. Instead, I was shown into the restaurants. Now its not unknown for me to fall asleep on a cafe table. Jay, Rikki and I spent a whole night sleeping on cafe tables in Bangkok, when we weren’t able to get back into the guest house, due to a comatose landlady! However, this was the first time I was invited in to sleep in one for the night. Given the conditions outside, (by now it was heavy rain and, it would appear, I had a huge climb ahead of me), I was very grateful for the offer of a bench.

After a few hours reading, I was soon asleep that was until I had a fight with my sleeping bag and broke the zip. Now it’s cold enough here and the sleeping bag isn’t that good without having to suffer a gaping hole where the zip should be! Nevertheless, despite the best efforts of the cockerel at 5.00, I remained asleep ( WITH THE HELP OF MY PERUVIAN SWEATER!!!!!!) and woke up at 8.00 just before sunrise. I was invited into the owners house for bite of breakfast and was soon on my way, but not before the obligatory photo session. Huge thanks to the Mardones family of www.laclavelarural.com providing me with my first night’s accommodation in a cafe/restaurant!

The cycle route from the cafe to Valdivia, involved a steep climb followed by a nice decent into Valdivia. I was there just before mid-day and was looking for a cafe to eat and provide wifi, when I was approached by this distinguished looking guy with my bicycle helmet, which I’d forgotten to attach to my bike as I walked around the centre of the town! We started talking, and I explained what I was doing. It turned out that Ernesto was a keen cyclist also. After a few minutes, he invited me to join him and his family for lunch. I can’t imagine anywhere in Britain treating a foreigner with that sort of friendliness and hospitality? Keeping up with his vehicle was a bit of challenge, but I made it to his place and was treated to a delightful lunch with a casserole to die for!

Ernosto’s grandparents came here from Germany, as did many from Valdivia. Ernesto was fluent in Spanish ( his home tongue), German and English. He probably knew a number of languages, but those were the three that I’d heard him speak. I met his wife and daughter and we talked about our respective past and present business interests. It turns out that Ernesto is involved in advising and supporting small to medium sized businesses. He was a forestry engineer, but has a range of business interests now. A large part of his work is supporting business to business exchanges abroad in the hope that there can be some mutual benefit. Particular themes were around co-operatives for procurement (though with an emphasis of buying local) and climate change. As you might expect, I was able to share quite a bit about Castle Morpeth’s work on climate change (wax lyrical, I hear you say), including our sustainable homes and Castle’s Woods and Water. It was one of those bizarre, chance connections which came out of that “humanity in action”. So, if anyone in the RDAs or in local authorities want someone to act as a facilitator for business to business relationships between Chile and UK and need someone with the knowledge and linguistic skills, Ernesto’s your man at ernestoweil@yahoo.com !

As we finished our lunch, Ernesto made some enquiries of a local hostel, negotiated a better price and I was on my way.

After a good night’s rest, I woke up ready to go, but could see nothing for fog; so bad that you couldn’t see an inch in front of you. After a few scares on the road on the way in, with vehicles getting dangerously close, I decided I’d wait a day! Soft, I hear you say! Well maybe......... but as well as avoiding being knocked off my bike by a bus or truck, I like to be able to see the animals that are chasing me!

Signing out for now.