A gaggle of bikers, all looking the section, are standing within the forecourt of a petrol station from the middle of south Argentina’s patagonian Desert, intriguing by themselves more than their machines and respective stories.

"The borders are shut,” announces Andre, a sizable gentleman from Rio Grande in southern Brazil. It is all down to governmental "paranoia” in regards to the coronavirus, he pronounces, adding that all those of us heading south will just really need to tweak our biking experience ideas.

"part of your game,” he claims cryptically, "part of the video game.”

One more biker comes in the south heading north, coated in dust and dust like he’s just ridden by a grimy storm. It is Gregg Holmes, a 56-year-old agricultural fencing contractor from New Zealand, who did Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, travelling with a Honda Africa Twin, and is also now heading again north. He incorporates a large heat smile and exudes camaraderie as well as a enjoy of lifetime.motorbike travels

"Disasters?” he states once i check with if he had any over the way down, "Nah. I did get stuck below the bicycle in Copper Canyon in Mexico but a pair of truckers arrived together and just picked it up off of me.”

Anyone heading south decides to show close to due to the fact they can be absolutely sure the borders in South The us are shut. But I’ve been explained to by Irish diplomats inside the location which the border involving Argentina and Chile is open up for a minimum of a different 24 hrs. I move about the intel nevertheless the other folks aren’t confident.

I’ve presently ridden 120km by way of excessive austral crosswinds, as well as prospect of a further 250km doesn’t precisely fill me with joy. "There’s nothing at all to choose from mate,” Holmes suggests to me, "nothing but wind and desert for at least 200kms.”

So is this it? Can it be in excess of before it is even started? Do I abide by the herd and switch back again? Does this damn coronavirus signify I ought to postpone to get a yr? I check out flights. It’s possible to go Rio Gallegos-Sao paulo-Madrid-London over about 40 hours without assurance of acquiring to Dublin. And what of the bike?

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