Huanchaco to Campamento Chavimochich

Today we headed away from the Pacific Ocean, after an all too brief a glimpse at it from the other side and we won’t see it or a sea side beach for that matter, now till we get to Ushuaia.

It’s a little bit sad in a way and an indication that we're now about to start getting serious about doing some work in the mountains, in which case the big question is, “As the team sprinter” how am I going to go, relative to the rest of my colleagues???

With the route requiring us to circumnavigate Trujilo and it being a flattish terrain for the first twenty five kilometres or so, we all pretty much rode as a single peleton, much to the surprise I suspect to some / many of the locals who snapped pictures of this crazy bunch of Gringos riding by…… Once we came to the first climb however, things sorted themselves out a little, with the racer types heading up the climb at a great rate of knots, whilst the rest of us proceeded at a more leisurely pace. 

At the top, we were pleasantly surprised to find that instead of the scenery / country side being quite as bleak as it had been further North, that there was a better system of irrigation and as a result a fair amount of sugar cane growing in the fields. 

Ultimately, back on the Pan Am Highway once again, along with the million and one trucks and buses, fortunately this time, given our low altitude they weren't billowing out tons of black smog. It's funny, whilst some of the buses got dangerously close, despite the fact that I was riding in the break down lane, the semi-trailer drivers were all well behaved and in fact helped me and a few others successfully navigate through a few of the small villages, by blocking traffic from coming up behind us or keeping reasonable distances / gaps for us to ride in, when the situation required it…..

At any rate, ultimately we reached the 100KM point and our designated to turn off the highway and onto a gravel road leading, God alone knows where! Bouncing around like there is no tomorrow on what I’d classify as a goat track, albeit a wide one, we rode the fifteen kilometres or so to our campsite and I’ve got to tell you. I’ve never been more pleased to jump off my bike. I can now put mountain biking on my “Done that list” that fifteen kilometres being the longest I’ve ever ridden on an unsealed road in all my life. Heck, it even made the prospect of putting my tent up a joyful proposition. The fact that I’ve got to do it all again tomorrow, well that’s a whole different story and one that I’d rather not contemplate to greatly at this stage of the game!