around the town we settled in with a bottle of wine in front of the fire and chatted the night away with other travellers there. The weather again was distinctly English!!

The next morning it was my Mum’s birthday, and I had wanted to speak to her but unfortunately there was no decent internet so it would have to wait until we got to our apartment a few days later. Hel was feeling a little off colour this day, I think she had a bit of a cold, so we didn’t really do too much, just a little walk and a chill around the hostel. That evening though we met Martin and Janice, a great couple from England who had decided to come travelling. Their kids had grown up and left home, and both been travelling, so they thought “well if the kids can do it then why shouldn’t we?” Why not indeed, we were really impressed - they were spending six months in South America and doing lots of trekking and

camping. We spent a nice evening with them and decided that the next day we would all go down to the nearby Parque Nacional Los Arrayanes, a peninsular with forests of arrayanes trees, and a 12 km trail with a boat ride back.

We were up nice and early and got the bus down to the park entrance, only to be told that the park was closed because it was too windy!! Very confused about why wind would close the park, we had some quick thinking to do, and I suggested that we jump in a taxi and go and climb the road which leads up to the nearby ski resort at Cerro Bayo. We started out walking up the road until Martin spotted a trail leading upwards. It was pretty hard going at first, being pretty steeply uphill, but soon it flattened out and wound it’s way through some gorgeous forest. Another steep section brought us out onto another road, where there were fantastic views over the surrounding mountains and