If you have seen a dinosaur documentary recently this backdrop of huge, bright blue, brimming lakes rimmed in the foreground by monkey puzzle trees and behind that with snow capped mountains will be familiar to you. Cycling around the lakes you'll find the country isn't quite as flat as the towering backdrop makes it seem: it's a lot of small ups and downs, which may change soon with more and more asphalting taking place as the region becomes a bigger draw for tourists and the government puts more money into infrastructure (which could spoil it a bit so go now.).

You don't need to carry a lot of gear, there are plenty of lovely family owned B&B's in small six or seven building communities, some of which look surprisingly similar to pretty Swiss towns complete with chalet style brown and white striped panels and bright window boxes. People here are also similar to the Swiss in that they produce some excellent chocolate, Bariloche being the place to go to find it. San Martin is also very nice; the St. Moritz of the Andes. Roads and decreasing numbers of wilderness trails go from community to community so you're always heading towards a bed, but if you book in advance you can expect to receive an extra warm welcome and often someone will have whipped up a dish of the local delicacy to satiate hungry riders. You don't need to be a particularly experienced rider to get a lot out of a journey through Chile's Lake District but you do need to be fit and confident spending time on a bike. Ideally you'd have time to go through Chile into Argentina which takes about two weeks.

Cycle Patagonia's Lake District with Saddle Skedaddle.

Written by  Andrew Straw.

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