I woke determined to have a shower, we were paying for a camp site that had them and after two days of hard treking really felt that I could do with one. Three showers for a hundred people and no que - I couldn't believe my luck. This diddn't last long, the luke warm shower turned into more of a luke cold shower once I got under it. In the tropics this would be fine but it was grim doing this in Patagonia.

The day was overcast again but like yesterday perked up during our dry cerial breakfast. By the time we set off for Campamento Italiano we were in scattered sun light. The lake and setting was just as beautiful. We had only a 2.5 hour (more like 3.5) walk with our lighter bags over easy ground. Spirits were good I think - we were getting into the treking mentality. The cold of the morning turned into a tee shirt day on certain sections sheltered from the wind. Before too long we heard the sound of river rapids indicating that we were close to our next camp.

Campamento Italiano is a free camp site; so no showers, electricity or running water. It is really a wood with a stream that you can camp in. We found a spot that was level enough and without any stumps in critical areas. We set the tent up, dumped our things inside, made some lunch and grabed the camera and water for the next stage.

Campamento Italiano is directly below Valle de Frances in the heart of the national park. It is firmly on the W circuit that we were doing and is susposed to be the most beautiful. It is 3 hours official walk uphill to a view point at the end. The weather just after setting off had changed again now it was raining and cold. The towering mountains disappeared into the clouds and the way ahead looked like it was in a snow storm. I am happy taking pictures of anything so stayed in one spot until the weather as always changes. Patagonia has the most variable weather we have experienced. I didn't just wait I used the moody weather to take atmospheric pictures of contorted windswept trees with mountains and glaciers behind. Within a few minutes the rain stopped giving me those clearing storm type pictures of swirling clouds around mountains. A few minutes later a few gaps in the clouds appeared giving me lovely pictures of wildflowers set around rocks and fallen trees. Liz then made a reapprearance, seeing the weather change and after weighing up doing nothing in the tent vs treking decided to return.

We set off up slowly up the valley, stopping for the numerous showers and/or nice visas.

The valley is indeed very beautiful and dramatic. On our right side was vertical granite mountains with the distinctive dark sedimentary rock on the tops. To the left dark jagged mountains and hanging glaciers. Every so often you would hear the loud rumble of an glacial avalanche, Liz seemed to be lucky enough to be in the right place to see the big ones. I was probally either taking a picture or in catch up mode after taking a picture. The increase in altitude and strong cold winds on exposed sections meant you started to get cold if you stayed still for too long.

Higher up the rain turned to hail and the wind grew stronger and colder. The increase in avalances indicated that a lot of snow was falling higher up, there was little point in tiring ourselves out further for little chance of seeing anything. We decided to head back down for dinner, luckily we had a guaranteed meat free tin of Heinz condensed asparagus soup which we padded out with pasta. If it was made locally there would have been meat inside, I almost was fooled by Liz's cry that it did.

Meal over Liz was in bed by 7pm - like a good little girl. I stayed up listening to the avolanches and someone snoring whilst writting some blogs.