Rocha – La Esmeralda – 75 km
Coffee washed down the leftover pasta, and the time was past midday when Mr
Markwood was ready to hand in the key. The wind was even more intense than the
previous day, and I had no intention of going far. Nevertheless, the road remained
undulating, and it took grinding into the wind for the best part of the day. Finally, a
friendly Uruguayan stopped and offered us a ride to the border - he looked
perplexed when we declined his offer.
The day turned out a picturesque ride past farmland and the ever-present pampas
grass until a road sign indicated camping four kilometres off the main drag. The
sign promised a restaurant, pizzas, and so forth. We left the tarmac and biked down
a dirt road, which I didn’t mind as I visualised a comfortable room and pizza.
However, on reaching the promised land, the setup was somewhat rustic amongst
dunes that looked positively Saharan. It took walking the bikes over the dunes to a
suitable place to pitch the tents. Following the initial disappointment and once
settled in, the place wasn’t all bad.