the start of the trail and were heading through pretty good mountain scenery towards the Valle Ascencio.

As we reached the foot of the valley this was when the real work started! I hadn’t carried a full pack for any distance or in mountains since I was sixteen, and Hel was completely new to this!! The trail got pretty steep very quickly and climbed for about an hour and a half. By the time we reached the top both of us were totally knackered and really starting to wonder what we‘d let ourselves in for!! We stopped briefly for some lunch and were relieved to find that once we set off again the path seemed to be relatively flat. Undulating would be a perfect word I reckon, but nevertheless better than the slog we’d just completed!! Very soon we found that the trail dropped quite sharply back down to the river, where we saw the first refugio and campsite, Refugio Chileno. Hel was lamenting

the fact that we’d had to slog all the way up this trail only to go down again - if it was up to her she’d have them build a new trail alongside the river!!

We decided that the worst of the climb was over, and we were up for a little more trekking, so we carried on up the valley to the free campsite at Campamento Torres, a further hour and a half. The campsites at the refugios were pretty steep at about seven quid, so we wanted to use the free ones as much as we could. Very soon though we came across a slight obstacle in the form of a steep river bank which dropped about 10 feet, which we had to clamber down backwards with the aid of a knotted rope!! Not easy when carrying a heavy backpack!! After that though it was fairly plain sailing up to the campsite, with some pretty great views along the way!! The campsite was just fine for a free one, and we found ourselves a flat-ish spot and