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Stage 2022/20 [SA020] | ||
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El Carril - Salta |
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| 25 km / 16 mi | |||
| 100 Hm (garmin edge 1000) max. Altitude: 1260 m | |||
Cycling from El Carril to Salta. |
 Today we cycle the last stage of this year's tour. We take it easy and have a leisurely breakfast in El Carril. The short drive over to Salta should be quick. There are plenty of opportunities to stop off at a bakery or supermarket on the way, no detailed planing necessary: we are back in a densely populated area. Ruta 68 is easy to drive, although we now have to share the road with lots of cars and trucks again. |
 In Salta we drive into the city center and look for a suitable restaurant for this year's tour final dinner meal. As we enter the city I notice this large advertising board (above the VW bus): Puna. To be more precise: Bodega Puna. I remember the bodega from Ruta 40: The winery grows grapes at an altitude of 2,600 meters above sea level in Cachi and at 3,400 meters above sea level close to La Poma. Villages that we know from our tour on Ruta 40. And a wine that we also know from our tour on Ruta 40. Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Tempranillo as well as Torrontes, Sauvignon Blanc and Syrah are grown there in the heights of the Andes. Plenty reason to come back one time. |
 Not far from the billboard we found a dealer who sold us a Malbec from the Puna winery. The total cultivated area between Cachi and La Poma is 36 hectares, and a total of 360,000 bottles of wine are produced each year from all grape varieties. I will take some of them back to Germany as a souvenir of Ruta 40. Whenever I drink Argentinian wine, I remember that the red wine along Ruta 40 was always stored in the refrigerator. All the guests in the restaurant are wearing winter jackets because of the cold up there, and it is cold and drafty in the inn too. Why the red wine is served chilled is beyond me. |
 In the center of Salta we take another short city tour on our bikes. Now that we have successfully completed the tour via Susques, La Poma, Cachi and Cafayete, the beer in the bars tastes even better than when we arrived 3 weeks ago, when the hardships were still ahead of us. |
 Since I have been interested in bell towers for many years: Near the central main square Plaza 9 de Julio we visit the Basílica San Francisco, which was already mentioned in the founding charter of the city of Salta in 1582. The bell tower was designed by the German Josep Heinrich Theodor Rauch and built by the Swiss architect Francisco Righetti in 1877. With a height of 54m, it is the highest bell tower in South America. |
 After Bell tower or wine purchase we finally find a restaurant for this year's tour final dinner. Like after every tour in recent years, we toast to the successful completion of the strenuous last few days, are grateful for the progress we made and are happy to have met so many nice people along the way. The stages on Ruta 40 in particular were not always easy, the Cuesta de Lipan was challenging and the climatic conditions above 4000m are not always inviting. Not to mention the corrugated washboard we cycled on. But with a Cabernet Sauvignon from the Hermandos winery in Cafayate, the exertions are immediately forgotten. |
 We spend a few more days in Salta and stay in the same accommodation as when we arrived. Our host Gustavo has kept the bike boxes while we were away, which makes it much easier to transport the bikes back to Germany. On the day of departure, Gustavo drives us and the bikes over to the airport. Checking in the bikes at Salta airport with Aerolineas Argentinas is easy. When we change planes in Cordoba, we have to collect the bikes and check in again at the Air Europa counter - sounds easy, but it's tricky, because the arrivals area is on the ground floor while the departures area is on the first floor. The bikes don't fit in the elevator and in addition to the two bikes, there are also the six bike bags. And the red wine. From Salta we go directly to Madrid with a stopover in Asuncion, where the bikes are checked through to Frankfurt. |