It has been a while since I last wrote. As expected, Patagonia has provided so much to take in that I haven´t been able to sit and contemplate my days..until now, sitting in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, watching the rain beat across the Beagle Channel from the Antarctic. It does feel like I have reached the end of civilisation here..

So back to early October.. Leaving Valparaiso I journeyed to the little town of Pucon, nestled in the Lake District of Chile, where the beautiful but very active Volcan Villarrica looms above you from every corner. I hired a bike for the day and ended up cycling between two lakes, going through fields and across rivers before landing back in front of the wood fire after 40 kilometres, 20 of which was spent battling against south-westerly winds.. Next stop was the hardy little harbour town of Puerto Montt, the ´gateway´ to the intricate Chilean fjords and Patagonia.. So happy to meet up with Jess and after sitting and chatting over a cup of tea by the potbellied stove, we bed down under duckdown duvets in one of the bedrooms in a family house overlooking the harbour..how wonderful it is to travel..

At midday the next day we join 30 or so other passengers to board the huge Navimag ferry 'Puerto Eden'. We have our own cabin and we watch as beneath us the many trucks and cargo are loaded aboard, destined for the south of Chile, Puerto Natales, our final destination in four days´ time. We are told that we will be navigating our way through the fjords over the next few days and will see many birds and possibly dolphins and whales, maybe even a blue whale.. We are also warned that on the second day we will be sailing across a gulf exposed to the Pacific Ocean so 'it may get a bit rough'. Jess tries not to look to panicked as our guide describes the 9 metre waves encountered three weeks before. The first day is cloudy and grey and we spend a bit of time on the bridge but end up feeling like we are going to be blown off the ship by the fierce winds and know that the Pacific is just around the corner so we steer clear of the red wine and hole up in our bunks for the afternoon and night. Looking out of our cabin window I can see the waves getting bigger and every now and then we are thrown from one side of our beds to the other..it is a long night but not as bad as we had prepared ourselves for. We wake to a bright, calm morning as we enter narrow channels we can see the snow-capped archipelagos on either side of the boat and petrels soaring in the wake. We arrive at the tiny, isolated village of Puerto Eden and are allowed sometime to explore this little outpost. The local people's faces are intriguing and their simple way of living evident in the countless mussel shells lining the shores..

We arrive in Puerto Natales the following morning and can see the mountains all around us as we disembark. Excitedly Jess and I sort out our transport to Torres del Paine National Park for the following day and prepare our daypacks with five days of food, clothes, blister packs and suncream.

The drive to the Park is incredible and within twenty minutes we can see the towers 'torres' in the distance. The weather is great and after dropping some things at the refugio we begin the 8 hour walk into the valley and up towards the torres. Unfortunately Jess gets blisters from her shoes only one hour into the walk but with plasters and gel soles we push on to get to the torres in good weather. It is a long day but we are rewarded with beautiful scenery, from turquoise lakes to forests and the final 800 metre scramble up through snow and rock to reach the granite towers..phew.. The second day of the hike leads us along the beautiful Lake Nodenskjold. Jess has picked up a stomach bug which adds to the pain of having blistered feet and we are relieved to get to the Los Cuernos refugio, tucked in a protected corner beneath the imposing Cuernos mountains. I wander to the lake and up to the river to sit and watch the sky..it is one of the most beautiful places I have seen.. Spend the night sitting around the fire with other hikers as Jess recovers. We are up early to push on to the French Valley and to Paine Grande but the weather is furious and the winds reaching 80 kilometres an hour..we are thrown around a bit and after hours of walking we feel utterly exhausted when we reach the refugio..so happy to get out of wet clothes and dry our feet by the fire.. The next day brings sunshine but we are warned that the winds are to reach 97 kilometres by the afternoon so decide to get the catamaran back whilst we still can.

Back in Puerto Natales we have our first decent meal of four days and rest up before we take the bus to El Calafate, Argentina, leaving Patagonian Chile behind..