We were woken up by some rain and then intense winds so strong that we had to take the covers off the bikes as we were worried they would tear. The wind brought a huge temperature change and it was cold in the morning which was much more comfortable than the heat of the previous days for packing up camp but the string g winds made it a bit tricky.

We left by 1 pm and rode Ruta 281 back to the main road Ruta 3 and south towards Puerto San Julian where we had accommodation booked. Just outside of Puerto Desesdo was a sign to a la Gruta de Lourdes which we unfortunately did not have time to explore but I looked it up later and it looks worth seeing. The strong side winds and gusts made it difficult to ride and it was a long day in difficult conditions with a lot of wildlife – more guanacos, Rhea birds, amardillos, and the South American gray fox (Lycalopex griseus) which is closer related to wolves and jackals than to foxes. We only stopped once on the side of the road at the intersection of Ruta 281 and Ruta 3. We were happy to arrive at our lovely hosteria in very cold conditions of a feels like temperature of 4 degrees after having ridden 385 km in cold and challenging windy conditions. We had a lovely two story apartment and decided to cook pasta instead of walking 1.7km to a restaurant as the wind was still blowing at gale force.