Menu The Pack Track
  • Books
  • Blogs
    • Dog Blog
    • Reviews
  • Media
    • Gallery
    • Videos
    • Press
  • Tools
    • Route Optimiser
  • Contact Us
  • Shop
  • Sign in
The Pack Track
  • Books
  • Blogs
    • Dog Blog
    • Reviews
  • Media
    • Gallery
    • Videos
    • Press
  • Tools
    • Route Optimiser
  • Contact Us
  • Shop

Welsh Patagonia

January 21, 2015

<< Previous Post Next Post >>

Told in the collective first person, jointly from Stu and Janell Clarke's perspective.

Narrated Audio Blog

 

 

Nearly 150 years ago a ship load of immigrants from Wales landed in Puerto Madryn, Argentina. Their intention was to set up a welsh community with no English influence. In fact they ended up establishing a number of these communities but today, the most notable is a place called Gaiman where there is still a strong Welsh culture and the Welsh language is commonly spoken. Stuarts boss in Australia, Dave, was of proud Welsh decent. So when Stu talked about his upcoming world-wide adventure, Dave mentioned the Welsh history in Argentina so The Pack Track starred the towns of Trelew, Gaiman and Trevelin on Google maps so we'd remember when we eventually reached Argentina.

Janell was a little confused about where exactly we were going to see dragons and drink tea, probably because she hadn't been listening to Stu when he was describing the Welsh history of the area. Trelew was the first town encountered as its situated on the main highway Ruta 3. Trelew sounded really Welsh to Janell who insisted on The Pack Track stopping for photos at the entrance. Unfortunately her excitement then confusion resulted in a little disappointment when she realised she had to get back on the bike and ride to another town before unpacking. About 20km due east of Trelew is the city of Rawson - also the capital of the state of Chubut - and 20km west of Trelew is Gaiman, the destination.

Adjacent to the volunteer fire brigade station in Gaiman is a campground also administered by the fire brigade. Its a really pretty spot next to a river with all the necessary facilities including power so we set up our tent there. Before we did anything else, we took ourselves for a nice long run, a good way to see the town and the surrounding landscape. We took note of the supermarket, fuel station, bakery, cafés, restaurants and bars (or restaurants that advertised beers as that didn't seem to have pubs or bars). We'd been spoilt in Puerto Madryn by Hernan and Noelia with some great home cooked food and sweets so made a point of pushing ourselves extra hard on the run.

Once all the exercise was out of the way it was time to undo all the good work, so off we went to the famous tea houses of Gaiman. Noelia had given us a recommendation so we went straight there. Ty Gwyn is the teahouse and we were not disappointed. They had a set menu so we just went with the flow. In hindsight we should have ordered one set menu and another tea only because the amount of food was phenomenal and it was so rich that sharing would have been sufficient. The teahouse had WiFi so we sat there for 3 hours making our way through the array of sandwiches and cakes while slowly sipping our tea. There was no dinner that night!

Later that day we met a retired couple from Wales, John and Jane, who had visited Gaiman annually for the past 5 years swapping the cold Welsh winter for the warm Argentine summer. They confessed that this would probably be their last visit as they knew there was so much more of the world to see. They took us to see the canals that ran through the town built by the original settlers, the Dutch, and designed by a woman, so are still in use today. We bumped in to them a few times not just in Gaiman but when we visited Trelew for the day they were in a restaurant we decided to have lunch in.

Our day trip to Trelew and Rawson was fun, we rode three up on Stu's bike. Rawson is located on the Atlantic Ocean and has a nice fishing port and beach, had we been more prepared we would have gone for a swim but unfortunately we didn't have our swimwear. Instead we decided to enjoy fish burgers at the port. Again we ordered two servings thinking they would be small, but no, each serving was made up of two rolls each around 25cm long and 15cm wide filled with fish and salad, had we known this we'd of ordered one serve. To make it worse, Stu thought we should order a serve of hot chips, so again we found ourselves in a situation with too much food. Stu wasn't going to be defeated and kept going until every last mouthful was gone. Janell, however, ate one roll, plus the fish from the other, and took the bread back to Weeti as a treat, but being the picky little dog she is she simply sniffed it and walked away.

Three nights in Gaiman was enough to soak up the culture and experience a little Welsh in Patagonia. So the next day we took off for Comodoro Rivadavia where our new tyres should be waiting for us.

  • Share:

<< Previous Post Next Post >>

Leave a comment

Comments will be approved before showing up.


Also in Dog Blog

Iraq
Iraq

March 30, 2022

We had conducted extensive research on the options for getting us, our motorbikes and the dogs from Europe to Jordan. Jordan had been on our itinerary since the beginning of our travels, being a very tourist friendly country with so many great ancient sites, varied landscapes and of course the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth at a staggering 430m below sea level. It was a place that fascinated us and begged us to visit.  Financial limitations had prevented us from visiting when we were just next door in Egypt back in 2017, but it was decided that it would become part of our Asia leg. Now in a slightly better financial situation, we assessed our options as follows: Shipping the bikes to Aqaba, Jordan Shipping the bikes to Israel Ride through Iran and Saudi Arabia Ride through Iraq Ferry to Lebanon and transit through the south of Syria The two shipping options were discounted immediately due to cost and practicality, had there been no other options then we would have given the d...

Read More

Turkey & Azra
Turkey & Azra

March 30, 2022

We got more than we bargained for in our travels through Turkey. After a few days on the Gallipoli peninsula visiting the battlefields of the Anzacs (Australian and New Zealand Army Corp) and the city of Troy our plan was to continue riding along the Mediterranean coast to stay in the warmer climates. Not far outside of Çanakale a very young puppy crossed the road in front of Janell on the motorway. It was very unusual even in Turkey to see such a youngster alone and on a busy motorway so we had to stop and check. She was so tiny, a little black fluffy (but quite dirty) ball, and appeared to be no more than 6 weeks old. Somehow she had found herself in the medium strip (wide gutter) between the two flows of traffic. We searched everywhere for her mum knowing that at her age she would still be dependent and could not have ventured far. After an extensive search of the area and seeing that she was very different to any other street dog in the area, or from what we’d seen in Turkey in ...

Read More

Cyprus
Cyprus

January 12, 2022

December weather in Turkey was cold and the majority of the country was covered in snow. Google Maps wanted to direct us inland via the shortest route over the mountains through the thick of it but travelling on motorbikes with our girls, we were happy to take the longer coastal route to keep to the mild climate and low elevations. The Turkish coastline was stunning and really surprised us. The water on our right was a tropical shade of aqua blue and the islands so perfectly spaced with the odd fishing settlement dotted along the way. On our left were rolling hills and we often came across these sceneries from a slight elevation, providing an optimum vantage point to really accentuate the setting. For the most part the quality of the road was up to European standards so we could concentrate on the views and not the road or traffic. All this combined with the better preserved and less visited of the “Ancient Greek” sites, Turkey quickly made its way into our top five countries and a ...

Read More

Follow

© 2023 The Pack Track.
Powered by Shopify