Our first day on the road did not start well as it was the first time in three weeks that it rained and it poured almost all day long. But we bravely set off from San Antonio heading south to catch the ferry at Puerto Montt in a weeks’ time, for our epic four day ferry cruise through the Chilean
Fjords.

After an hour we were pulled over in a Police roadside check point. They have a lot of these in
Chile. Nervously, we wound down the window to be greeted by two smiling policemen who then had a chat with Lesley, asked where we were going and waved us on our way without wanting to look at any paperwork; let’s hope they all go as well.

Next up I needed a pee so we pulled over at a suitable spot and on attempting to set off again, not a sign of life form the starter motor. Oh dear. An hour later and having stripped the dash, the fault was a relay that powers the starter solenoid. A two minute job to plug a spare in and away we
went, much relieved. (Taking it apart later revealed a small piece of grit or similar on the contacts, which didn’t look burnt. Will keep that as a spare now)

Our plans for our first night camping were finally shelved when at 5 ish and still raining we found a small hotel overlooking some water falls (Salto de Lajas). Our nerves needed another night indoors.

Next day dawned bright and sunny and this time we did 400 miles with no problems, and found a nice little camp site at Puerto Octay, one of the German settlements from the 1800s, next to a huge lake and overlooked by three snow-capped volcanoes. Volcano Osorno is very similar in appearance to Mt Fuji in Japan. The Lake setting was very beautiful. The only thing that
spoilt the day was some locals partying into the early hours followed by an hour and a half of all the local dogs howling and barking. All very strange but the end result was little sleep for us!

Next day we pushed on and had an easier day with just a mornings drive and short ferry to the Chilean Isle of Wright, Chiloe. We stopped at Ancud and found an excellent camp site on the cliff edge overlooking the sea with the same snow-capped volcanoes visible in the far distance.

Over the next few days we visited several towns and camped in some beautiful spots. One night we watched a partial eclipse of the sun, followed by a dawn kayak along a river through a sunken forest. The land on which the forest sat dropped 2m after an earthquake in 1960 and salt water
flooded a huge area killing the trees. All that remain are the decaying trunks.

We also went on a boat trip to a small rocky island to see penguins and on the way back we were lucky to see a Sea Otter having his dinner of crab.

We are now in Puerto Montt and tomorrow board a ferry to Puerto Natales. This will take 4 days travelling through some spectacular scenery of islands, fjords and glaciers. Subject to there being no mist or fog of course!

We have been away for a month now and by good fortune the hotel we chose has rooms with baths. What luxury.