I feel we should start this entry by stating that whilst we have looked with envy at motorhomes
and Peter has checked out prices on Ebay we do love Gerty, especially after our recent challenge leaving a camp site. On driving to the exit we were faced with a rather large collapsed cattle grid with deep mud either side. The grid was balanced precariously below the height of the road on some old logs. In an attempt to bring the worst side to the level of the road a large tyre had been placed on top of the grid. Gerty didn’t bat an eyelid and charged across with no problem.

Our first stop in Argentina was Trevelin, one of three Welsh towns in the area. Whilst it was originally a welsh settlement in the 1870’s there is little evidence left of this – a few street names, a couple of chapels, two Welsh tea rooms, a refurbishment of a watermill (as used by early colonists), the grave of John Evan's (the founder) horse and a red dragon on top of the tourist information office. We visited one tea room and Peter sampled a large plate of homemade cakes. Apparently the Welsh came here in the mid 1800’s to escape English oppression. They settled an area which at that time was claimed by neither Chile nor Argentina. The Welsh colonists built a thriving wheat growing and flour milling industry. This interested both countries and it was left to the people to vote and they chose Argentina.

The following day we visited the huge National Park Los Alerces (200,000 hectares). The park is famous for the Alerce trees ( Fitzroya cupressoides). These trees which can live for over 4000 years can reach a height of 57m. The soil in the park consists of a very deep layer of volcanic sand which is very light like pumice. It is unstable and only held in place by a thin top layer of soil. In many places the road had collapsed or been covered by landslide. Despite struggling along these roads Gerty did have time to make friends with a local cat who liked her warm bonnet.

I hope you are learning lots from our informative blog entries-we will be testing you in our last entry!

Another useless piece of information is that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid spent 5 years from 1901 living on a farm just north of the National Park, before selling up and going back into the bank robbing business until their final demise in Bolivia in 1908.

After two wet days in the park- yes it is still raining- we set of for Esquel to go for a ride on the Old Patagonia Express steam train affectionately called La Trochita. Began in 1922 to link Esquel with Bariloche the narrow gauge line took 23 years to complete. It transported passengers, livestock and other goods for 57 years, despite many derailments by high winds, snow drifts and stray cattle, until it closed in 1993. It was very touristy but good fun.

After this we drove to El Bolson. Peter kept saying we should visit a giant artisan market in the town- very odd so I thought. His sudden interest in markets became clear when we arrived in the town and he headed for a campsite in the grounds of a microbrewery that made 11 different
beers.