The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
ULTIMATE ITINERARY DISCOVER PATAGONIA
Largely barren, thinly populated, windswept in summer and bitterly cold in winter, Patagonia shouldn’t be as enthralling as it is. But there’s something about this triangleshaped vastness at the bottom of South America that stirs intrepid souls. Its political geography – the last region of South America to be colonised, it’s shared by Argentina and Chile – is less relevant than its physical reality: comprising steppe and tundra, gelid ocean and lifeless lake, rain-lashed islets and icelocked Andes, it’s the closest land mass to Antarctica and the very embodiment of “Out-There”.
While Patagonia is far more well-trodden than it was in the Seventies when travel writers Paul Theroux and Bruce Chatwin launched their stellar careers there, a spirit of discovery still seems appropriate. On Sept 20 1519, Ferdinand Magellan set sail from Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Andalucia on the landmark expedition that would be hailed as the first circumnavigation of the world – though Magellan was killed in the Philippines, leaving master (and sometime mutineer) Juan Sebastian Elcano to complete the voyage.
The sailors accompanying them were the first Europeans to make landfall on the Patagonian coast – at Puerto San Julián a year into the voyage – where they met giants they dubbed “Patagones”. Later, Magellan battled along the zigzagging strait that now bears his name.
Today’s traveller has it easy, but distances are still something to be reckoned with when planning a visit. From Buenos Aires to Ushuaia at the foot of Tierra del Fuego, an island generally regarded as part of Patagonia, it’s 1,920 miles (3,090km) on the Ruta 3. The more picturesque Ruta 40, which starts at the Strait of Magellan, runs along the Andes for a mind-boggling 3,157 miles (5,080km), all the way to the Bolivian border.
Drive those when you retire. This 11-day trip is a taster, combining short flights, easy road trips, a bit of hiking and a boat trip, and showcasing coast and
north and south, desert and forest. In Argentina, you’ll see the wild Atlantic, arid steppe, epic highways and lonely Beagle channel. In Chile, the southern ice field, the fjords where John Byron got lost, penguins and petrels.
Patagonia is very civilised these days. In Punta Arenas and Ushuaia you’ll drink great Patagonian wines and eat delicious spider crab. Old
house bijou hotels. Treks into the “unknown” are well marked. Glaciers are used to source ice cubes for Scotch.
But the region is still unlike anywhere else. I first visited in 1992, and went back again and again, writing guidebooks and a cultural history – a kind of deconstruction of Chatwin’s mythic memoir. But the legends still swirl and the mysteriousness has not been eroded by repeated visits.
“Try Patagonia!” proclaimed author WH Hudson, who saw it as a cure for ennui, fatigue, and dullness of spirit. He’d never got as far south as the start of this trip – but the advice holds.
WILDERNESS AND WHALES DAY 1
Fly British Airways direct to Buenos Aires (13 hours), arriving in the morning. It’s a one hour, 55-minute flight onward from the city airport – Aeroparque – to Puerto Madryn. Collect a hire car for three nights. Drive 91 miles (148km/two hours 15 mins) to the Valdés Peninsula and check in to Estancia Rincón Chico (rinconchico. com.ar) for two nights. The landscape is classic Patagonia, with the Atlantic on your right and the empty steppe on the left.
The estancia has eight stylish rooms and a veranda with dramatic views of the arid scrub. Enjoy an evening walk to see the local sea lions and elephant seals. Hosts María and Agustín will help you plan your activities. All stays are full-board. Enjoy traditional fare such as grilled lamb, steaks, veggie pies, salads and good wines.
DAY 2
The estancia has nine miles (15km) of coastline you can explore on foot, bike, horseback or four-wheel drive vehicle. Keep an eye offshore as pods of orcas are routinely spotted, hunting for seals and sea lions. Dolphins, penguins and other whales can also be seen.
Bird life is very rich, including waders such as oystercatchers, flamingos and herons, flightless lesser rhea, owls and eagles, petrels, tinamous and plovers. If you’re here between June and December you should visit Puerto Pirámides to see the southern right whales – these gentle giants calve in the calm waters.
At night, go stargazing after dinner.
traces an exploratory course across South America
INTO THE (WELSH) VALLEY
The legends still swirl and the mystery has not been eroded by repeat visits
for years and breaking up (over twoto four-year cycles) when the water beneath undermines it. The 2016 collapse was seen by many; last March an ice bridge collapsed – but at night.
An ice-hike over the glacier, with crampons, affords you a chance to get up close to the wavelike surface and observe the shimmering sky-blue pools that form in the crevasses.
ACROSS THE ANDES TO CHILE