Day 30– Saturday March 26: Short and Steep to Puerto Tranquillo
Morning arrived, and we enjoyed another great breakfast before setting off. We traveled the side road to Bahia Murta proper, about 5km away. It was a small community tucked alongside the closest edge of Lake General Carrera. The lake itself was outrageously turquoise, and the little town looked as though it might fill up in the high season. Right now it’s deserted, so we made our rounds and headed back to the main road. Once there we turned towards Puerto Tranquillo, just under 30km away. As we rode the sun broke through the heavy clouds until we were riding in complete sunshine – something we hadn’t done for a long time. The gravel on the road was reasonably maintained, so we made good headway. Soon we caught sight of the same Lake General Carrera and the road followed its shoreline south, rising and falling with the headwalls bordering the water. Some steep climbing, but totally beautiful. In fact, this ride was the most beautiful of all the rides we have taken so far, with frequent stops for picture taking.
By mid-afternoon we were in Puerto Tranquillo, and the town was like the scenery, extremely fetching. We found our way to our new place to stay, El Puesto, and were delighted to find that our cabins were complete, with fully equipped kitchens – including the first microwave we had encountered in Chile. There was revelry and wandering around the little town, a great dinner. Finally we settled in to a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow was planned as another rest day, and we knew that down the lake there were marble caves to explore.