14th January; after a morning catching up with emails, blog, etc we drove to the Tierra del Fuego National Park for a walk along the Beagle Channel. The weather has turned cold with a strong westerly wind; force 6 to 8. Slow 2 hour walk consolidating our knowledge of the area, flora, fauna and history. One side of the Beagle Channel is Argentina [north] and one Chile [south]. The flag on the island is statement of national territory. On our way back we called int...

Sunday 13th January; visit by car [hired for two days] to Estancia Harberton. When aged 15 David read the inspirational book "Uttermost Part of the Earth" by Lucas Bridges, this is memoirs of his and his family's life in Tierra del Fuego. Lucas's father Thomas arrived with his wife Mary Ann [she was from Harbeton Devon] in the 1870's to start a mission to the local indians [the Yamana and Ona]. Later they wre given a large area of land by the local gove...

Friday 11th January; day trip to inland lakes [Escondido and Fagnano] via ruta 3 which if you keep going ends in Alaska! On the way visited a Husky Farm where dogs are bred for racing and exploration in the Antartica. They were excited at the propect of pulling a sled and all hell broke out when only some were selected for the demonstration sled race. Gillian and Willis did a short guided walk and David completed his reading about the Bridges family [see Harberto...

Tuesday January 8th; early transfer by bus [4hrs] to small town of El Chalten. We stopped on the way at Leone famed for a stay by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. We arrived in time to gat in a 3 hr walk to the viewpoint of Fitzroy Mountain. This was named after Captain Fitzroy of the Beagle and its top pinnacle is one of the worlds hardest mountain climbs. It is a 90 mins hard slog up and a steep climb down to the viewpoint. David and Gillian were supprised o...