So nearly, but not quite!

 

 

During the extensive work on the cars in Lima Barbara and I turned our attention to updating our route, in particular to seeing if it is possible to reach Cartagena by the 26^th March to rendezvous with a potential ship to cross the Darien Gap and secondly to take account of Cyclone Yaku which has hit northern Peru.

 

On advice from our friend Ariosto we left Lima at 04:30am to avoid the traffic. He also warned us of the truck traffic and mist in the early morning across the main pass north of the City. It was without doubt sound advice. Leaving at 04:30am took an hour to eventually leave the sprawling City of some 14 million souls, leaving at 08:00am would have taken 4-5 hours with  hot cars and even hotter drivers.

 

We have two new co-drivers joining today, both flying into Lima at approximately 06:00am this morning. We decided that the easiest thing was for Bumble, Nigel’s wife, and Didier, my new co-driver, to fly on up to Trujillo and for us to meet them there. We will beetle up the Pan-American Highway, Route 1, the main conduit connecting the north of Peru to the south and meet them on Sunday.

 

 

 

Our exit from Lima was faultless, the main pass, mist and truck free and before we knew it we were cruising effortlessly towards our overnight stay, an AirBnB on the beach just north of the town of Casma. There was even mention of fresh lobster and Chablis. On and on we purred eating up those miles with the promise of an afternoon on the beach.

 

 

Coffee was taken by Nigel and I at the delightful roadside eaterie Desayunos Andrea. We passed on having the fiull cooked breakfast and were soon back on the road.

 

We were stopped once by the police at a standard checkpoint. Having waved through the Rolls they decided to stop the two Lagonda’s. I don’t know whether there was nefarious intent however the passports were produced, the temporary import permit was produced, the driving licences were produced and finally, the first time it has been asked for, our vehicle insurance was produced. I think that they finally thought that there isn’t an obvious pressure point by which a ‘fine’ could be extracted and let us on our way. A few miles further on we were stopped once again but this time with a smile and a request for a photo.

 

As we moved steadily north the first worrying signs of the damage recked by Cyclone Yaku became morew obvious with large tracts of the highway being cleared of huge amounts of sediment swept down by the torrential downpours.

 

17km from our overnight destination disaster struck! The Pan-American highway bridge at Casma has been swept away. The water from Cyclone Yaku continued to flood down from the Andes and the bridge was swept away on Friday. The traffic queue was long, bus loads of travellers, trucks full of a wide variety of loads and cars trying to get north. The bus occupants were walking down to the river and they could cross it, connecting with a bus on the other side. Anyone in a vehicle was completely snookered, and that included us! In the blistering mid-day sun we had to make a decision. We were out of water, the Rolls was out of fuel and we felt as if we were sitting inside a George Forman Grill!

 

 

 

Sometimes discretion is the better part of valour and we called a general retreat. About 30km back down Route 1 is the one horse town of Tuquillo and we knew we could get water and fuel, we could regroup and plan our next move. On the way into town we saw a sign to a beach resort and thought we might try that. This proved to be an inspired move. The VistaMar hotel and restaurant had a room free (four beds, all very cosy!), cold beer and supper.

 

 

 

Bumble and Didier are safe and comfortable in Trujillo. The three cars are marooned on the wrong side of a collapsed bridge at Casma. There is no obvious way of joining the two halves of the team, but where there’s a will there is more often than not a way!

 

Tomorrow as they say on such expeditions, is another day.