Fly & Ride Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego & Ushuaia (No Truck)

Seventeen nights from Pucon or Osorno to Ushuaia, the same route as the operator’s flagship Patagonian crossing with no support truck at all: hotels pre-booked, a road book and GPS notes supplied, and the rest left to the rider. The hire is included, with a long upgrade list.

Villa La Angostura opens it on the Seven Lakes Route through Puyehue and Nahuel Huapi, then Trevelin and Los Alerces, where the fitzroya trees are among the oldest living things on earth, several of them well over two thousand years old.

Puyuhuapi follows at the head of the Carretera Austral with Corcovado National Park, then Coihaique through the Queulat rainforest, and Puerto Tranquilo for the Marble Caves and a rest day. Los Antiguos and Gobernador Gregores come next on Ruta 40 among the guanacos, then El Calafate with Fitz Roy in view and a rest day for the Perito Moreno glacier.

The Strait of Magellan is crossed to Tierra del Fuego and Ushuaia, with the national park there, then Rio Grande, the penguins and the southernmost post office in the world, a second ferry to Punta Arenas, and Torres del Paine with Glacier Grey and Lago Pehoe. Prices are quoted in US dollars. Going without the truck saves a substantial amount and costs the safety net: bags are carried on the bike, a breakdown is the rider’s problem to begin solving, and the distances between towns down there are long. For an experienced rider who has done this sort of thing before, it is the better value of the two; for anyone who has not, the supported version exists for a reason.