where was I… ah yes, South America…

so where was I… ah yes, South America… yep he’s off again… my employers have very nicely allowed me to disappear with some unpaid leave.. again. I must be truly special, either that or they’re just happy to see the back of me, so I just booked a flight for 11th January that will take me and bike to Puerto Montt in Southern Chile… and from there I have 5 months approx to make way along the Andes as far as Cusco in Peru. I’m not trying to join up with where I left off in Colombia and Ecuador last year as I’ve seen a fair chunk or Peru already.. rather it’s a case of fitting in as much adventure as possible without missing out on the usual summer fun here in Cornwall :-)

So with the flight booked I shall indulge in my usual lack of planning until I actually arrive – heck all I ever needed was a map and idea. I think it’s going to be somewhere around 5000 miles of riding. Maybe, I guess I’ll soon find out. Before then though I have all the exciting <sarcasm> decisions to make once again concerning equipment… like what tyres to use and whether or not to treat my arse to a new saddle. I’m taking my well-travelled Thorn Nomad once again and I have a bunch of things on my mind regarding equipment so stay tuned if you’re interested and I’ll share my thoughts as I get ready to go. In the meantime though my ‘generic’ gear list is here and there’s a few words on my trusty, and slightly rusty now, steed (sounds a bit corny doesn’t it…) here. Must confess I’m rather excited… there’s going to be a lot of my favourite things like volcanoes and mountains and desert…. and cold nights camping under vast high altitude skies laden with stars :-)