A longer, but somewhat less hilly ride today, with the gravel section on the north side of Rio Pucon O Minetue, heading east from Pucon. This is route S-923, and it seems to be more popular than others I have done here.
First, I passed a young woman with large
saddle bags on her bike. Then several
kilometers later, a large group of riders going in the opposite direction on
MTBs. Looked like an organized group,
possibly a local commercial tour.
Also saw a bunch of rafters heading down
the river from the bridge on the S-905, before turning onto S-923. This is called the Trancura valley, and many
of the rafting and kayaking outfitters in Pucon have Trancura signage on their
store fronts. Big business here, along
with related sports clothing stores.
There was one short but very steep climb
on the S-923. It had a severe case of washboard,
so I decided to get off the bike and walked it.
Farther east, the river does not have rapids, so no rafters – either on
the river or on the road in vans traveling upstream. Also more forested, with very pretty scenery
(but no yellow gorse to be seen anywhere).
Return by way of route 199 is a bit
boring, but you still get those amazing views of Volcan Villarica along the
way. Also, the 199 has a nice paved
shoulder, so you feel a bit safer on the bike than on some other roads (I
always have the rear flasher going).
A little over 60km, not quite half of it
on gravel.
Photos by Jaro Franta
