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CostsRealistically you are talking £1.5K for this trip. I had a few days at the end of the trip before the flight home, these costs have not been included.Getting there and back Return flights Heathrow - Punta Arenas - London City Airport - TAM Airlines£968.99Train tickets to Heathrow from home£71.00Train tickets from King Cross to home£59.50Hotel in Punta Arenas (booked from home, one half of ac …

FoodAlways a tricky subject to write about as different people will put up with very different standards, and you might find some of my choices controvercial! However I thought that this time around I’d tackle writing about it. In planning food for a trip the first thing to decide is how many days food you are going to carry – here’s my reasoning:When planning the TDP I reckoned on 6 days to do th …

Gear ReviewsHere are a few thoughts on how the gear we took performed, CLICK PRODUCT NAME for each products details: MSR Nook Tent|At 1300grams the Nook is pretty lightweight for a two person tent and yet it manages to provide quite spacious accommodation for two people. Its never going to be as practical as heavier models with two doors and two porches but compared to other single entry two pers …

Getting BackIf you’ve read the rest of the detail on this trip you’ll know that we completed the ‘O’ circuit with an additional dog-leg at the beginning, four hours walking got us to the Refuge Paine Grande which is on both the ‘O’ and ‘W’ routes.We completed the circuit ending back at Refuge Paine Grande where there’s a catamaran service to a bus drop off point across the Park, so its not necessa …

Getting ThereWith a well developed transport infrastructure at the Patagonia end I guess it was always going to be relatively straightforward to get to the start of the walk – and thats how it turned out. Chile is only three hours behind the UK as well so there isn’t really any jet-lag to worry about.Tuesday 12th MarchLeft home at 13.45 heading for Darlington Railway Station, caught the 14.45 trai …

Torres del Paine National Park, ChileIts a long way from the UK to Southern Chile, however the Torres Del Paine National Park is a very special place, and despite some crowded campsites and over-zealous park rangers we experienced 8 days of superlative backpacking among stunning scenery. Read about it here. Getting ThereTrip ReportPhoto GalleryGear ReviewsGear ListFoodCostsGetting BackBack to Tre …

Gear ListThis is a list of some of the essential items I took on the trip and what each item weighed. If you would like to see the full gear list you can download it by clicking on the 'Full Gear List' button below.Full Gear ListSleeping Bag Infinity 300650gExped Waterproof pack liner, 30 Litres128gSleeping Mat Neoair Xlite Regular350gNeoair stuffsack18gKlymit Cush85gRucksack Exped Lightning 60 …

Photo Gallery Walking the 'dog-leg'Walking the 'dog-leg'Walking the 'dog-leg'Viewpoint above Paine GrandeValle FrancesValle FrancesCheesy!Valle Frances looking backLago NordenskjoldLago NordenskjoldLago NordenskjoldLago NordenskjoldAbove CuernosBusy junction nr ChilenoTorres del PaineTorres del PaineTorres del PaineEn route to SeronArriving Refuge DicksonLago DicksonRefuge DicksonGalcier los Perr …

Trip Report‘Its a long way to go for a walk’ I said to my pal as we settled down into our economy airline seats for the overnight flight to San Paulo, Brazil – he smiled agreement. During the next two weeks we became entranced by the Torres del Paine National Park, for a while it became our paradise away from work and on the way back Gavin (henceforth ‘Gav’) retorted that he was ‘supremely glad we …