Kilometres this section : 110
Kilometres completed : 110
From Punta Arenas I take a bus south, as far as the small settlement of San Juan. From here it is a... challenging 45km walk to Cabo Froward, but I do make it in less than two days. The trail begins at a giant cross, with fine views across the Strait of Magellan towards the snowy mountains of Tierra del Fuego. Now of course I need to retrace my steps, at least I know the worst. Well, the cross is of course up a large hill, the descent is easier than the climb was, then a bit of pebbly beach - I'll be by the sea all the way to San Juan. Sometimes of course there's a cliff where sea meets land, obviously this means a steep, muddy climb and descent. It gets worse, a section of beach covered with fallen trees to climb over... well, that will do for what is left of the day, time to camp, and even make a fire. I am probably not going to get fined here.
So you may be wondering, what is this 'Greater Patagonian Trail' then? Well, it isn't any sort of official path, I don't know if I will see any signs. Rather the whole thing seems to be the brainchild of one guy, a German named Jan Dudeck. Fair play to him, he's clearly spent an awful lot of time exploring Patagonia, and I hope to walk many of his routes - but that is the thing, 'routes'. There isn't a continuous line, and not much at all here in the south, so for a while I will be following my own plan. What can go wrong?
First full day of my route north, and I am still retracing my steps. Lots more clambering over rocky coastline, and two rivers to cross - I had to swim both to get to Cabo Froward, not ideal this close to the Antarctic! Today I swim the first, then for the second the tide is out, it's 'just' a waist deep wade. At least the sun is out, in fact it is warm, t-shirt weather, although I was glad of all my warm gear in the tent last night. The rest of the day is easy enough, a climb over a hill with actual bog, sandy beaches and pleasant paths through the forest. With the lovely weather and fine views of the sea and mountains it is all rather splendid.
Another day and a bit more beach, to Faro San Isidro, the most southerly lighthouse on the mainland of course. From here the route is better travelled, the beach is the same but the trails through the forest are easy now. Then onto dirt road, for 10km to where I got off the bus, and a few km more. Lots of holiday homes here, although not exactly deluxe - seems to be a popular idea to tow a broken down campervan here. Well, onwards, I could of course just stay on this road, but surely I can do better... Well, I do have to climb a fence with 'privado' on it, sure it's fine though - there are certainly plenty of hiker footprints. And glorious walking through natural parkland, then a steep ascent to an antenna around 400m up. A footpath through the trees, then logging trails - one worry, my map shows a trail just stopping, the plan was to make my way off piste for a bit, but the trees look densely packed. Fortunately the trail does not stop! Time to camp then, tomorrow I'll see where it goes.
Well, the mystery trail takes me a little further, but then turns west, not good - I keep going but it doesn't turn north, OK, back I go, there is maybe a track leading north, looks like it hasn't been used in a while. Of course a little later it vanishes entirely, I find myself struggling through dense undergrowth and masses of fallen branches, eventually I reach another logging track but it has been two hours and less than 4km along the route. Next up, a track on my route turns out not to exist - there is just a fence leading into the trees... I see an alternative on the map, definitely showing as a minor road, but it is a fence too, sigh. OK, decision time, the track I am on leads down to the coast road to Punta Arenas, so that is where I go.
It makes for a quick walk at least, although with endless fencing to either side it is not obvious where to camp - I find a spot by the beach in the end. From here it is an easy morning's walk back to Punta Arenas, interesting though as I pass the rusting hulks of many large ships. Good to be back in civilisation, and over a day early too, time for a nice rest then, and maybe some beer.
