This last weekend I decided to go for a big bike ride. I set off at about 10 in the morning after picking up a few empanadas and a bar of chocolate to put in my pack. It was a day of perfect blue skies, but it is also officially winter in Chile so it was very cold out. There was a bit of frost on the ground which is rare for Valdivia. It usually never gets below freezing here since it is so close to the cost. Anyways, I was ready to be biking for just about all the daylight hours. (Which isn't many since it is winter)
I decided to ride the road to Corral. Corral is a small town out on coast across the river/bay from Niebla and Isla Mancera. Most people just get there by boat from Niebla because the is is just a 15 cruise and then a quick road back to Valdivia. I took the old road which connects Corral to Valdivia by land. It is a small and rough dirt road that passes through the Valdivia forests, several small communities, and the coastal mountain range.
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| I love all the colorful Chilean fishing boats around Valdivia. From Chile W14 Bike |
After about 5 hours of biking I made it to Corral. Now I know why everyone just takes the boat to get there. It is a LONG road. It twists all through the back country and the hills. It was amazing, but it wore me out. I had to make my way up steep muddy hills and lots of rough road. All that make it a slow ride. By the end my bike wasn't looking that great. But I'll be selling my bike soon since I don't have mack time left in Valdivia. For the amount that I've used my bike here, I don't care how much I can sell it for.
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| Corral was probably the town hit worst by the 1960 Chilean tsunami. I don't think that this building was from that time, but arround the town they keep little plaques reminding people just how high the wave was when it hit. They say it was a 10-12 meter high wave. From Chile W14 Bike |
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| Corral also has an old Spanish fort along the coast. From Chile W14 Bike |
But that isn't the end of the day. I had done 72km and reached Corral, but I still needed to get back to Valdivia which is another 18km after crossing over the bay to Niebla. Luckly the road to Valdivia from there is paved. I was able to speed back home: getting back just before sunset. In all it was 90km or 55 miles of biking. I don't think I would ever do that ride again. It was amazing, but by the end I was tired and fed up with making my way constantly going up and down muddy hills. It was a good experience and now Chileans think I'm crazy when I tell them I took the road to Corral by bike. Not even many cars take that route. I only had about 8 go by me on that road and most of them were full of forestry workers.
Click below for a few panoramic shots and a map with the route traced out.
View Corral Bike Ride in a larger map
A lot of these shots remind me of Burien/Washington. Also, you forgot to mention that you were fending off dogs! You need to make sure there's always a life-of-death situation in every story. That's a bit of writing advice for ya. ;)
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