Huw and Allison together with Stephen and Katy were the riders on our "Colonostrail" ride that started on February 21. 2006.
Please note:The ride as we do it from 2007 on is one day shorter

As they are travelling around the world, they run a diary, Allison and Huw around the world  , were they publish their experiences.

A lot to read, but worth it: they have the most lively description of this ride I have read up until now.
Thanks to Huw and Ally to letting me publish it, thanks to the four for the pics and for being such a great team and lovely guests.
Here's what they wrote about their 7 days in the Andes:

Up and finished packing up to meet the girl from the horse centre at the
camp site entrance at 8.30am. She arrived in a yellow van and was called
Ale (pronounced Ali, not like the beer!!) short for Alejandra (probably not
spelt right though!!) and was lovely right from the start. She helped load
up the bikes and off we went to Mathias´ farm, 12 km from Pucon. We arrived
and met his wife and family and then were introduced to the other two people
who were to share our week long adventure on horse back!! They were Steve,
from a town about 100 miles from Atlanta in the USA and Katy, a gap year
student from Newtown in Wales and who has been volunteering / teaching
English in the south of Chile. Our initial impressions were favourable -
your travelling companions can make a HUGE difference to a trip like this -
they both seemed like lovely people!!

Flippin´heck!! Did it rain in the night or what?!? Mathias made the
decision for us to cancel the ride today when it was still hurling it down
at 8am...good call. So. We then proceeded to do very little for the rest
of the day. There isn´t really a lot that you can do in the rain, on a farm
in the middle of no-where. Steve went fishing but Katy and us two just read
and slept. Until 6pm when we got a lift into town and then had a spending
spree. In half an hour we´d both bought jeans and leather hats, sweeties
and books. The jeans are because our lightweight cotton trousers are not up
to a weeks hard riding and the hats are because our baseball caps will not
be much use if it does continue to persist it down! Back to Antilco at 9pm.
Bed. Fingers crossed for tomorrow!!

Allison was up at 7am and it was a beautiful morning!! We hadn't´t realised
but there is a great view of the volcano from the camp site. The pink light
on it this morning was gorgeous. Then packing and sorting and organising
horses and more packing. We had thought we might be taking a pack horse but
no, all the stuff came with us on our horses. We each had a set of saddle
bags and then one bedding roll that sits behind the saddle. The horses
didn't´t appear to object though! We finally left the farm around 12pm and
then trundled along tracks and roads for a couple of hours. We got to a
lake called Caburgua around 2pm and sat on the beach eating empanadas
(delicious Cornish pasty-type Chilean food) and feeling very content with
the world. Then after lunch we went along the black sand beach (from the
volcano) and then along a track by the side of the lake. And then. The real
stuff began. We rode up into a wooded valley. and when we say up, we mean
UP! Oh, my goodness......how steep!! The horses were fabulous and puffed
and panted but didn't falter (they did pause for breath quite frequently
though) and we gained a lot of height in a short space of time! We got to
our first camp site around 7pm - a delightful plateau - and we got off the
horses, unsaddled them and turned them loose!! What clever horses they are
to not run away (or is that thick?!?!?) A beautiful evening followed with a
great soup and pasta tea cooked on the open fire. We sat around the fire
and chatted and toasted marshmallows and looked at the stars....good, eh!

Up around 8am, to the sound of bellowing cows, and then breakfast by the
fire. Then to find the horses. We discovered they are NOT as good as we'd
thought last night.....we were actually camped in a huge enclosed
plain...and so they couldn't have gone home even if they'd wanted to!!
Saddled up and off around 11am - a lovely steady pace to this trip - another
fabulous day. We did lots more up and down, through ancient forest of huge,
tall, monkey puzzle trees. This whole area is famous for them and they are
magnificent. There are also huge areas with only low growth and that is as
a result of a very large fire over 50 years ago - it puts the age of the
other trees into perspective. Everything is very dry here - it is a totally
different climate - they do get rain and snow but then the rest of the time
is very dry so, where at home we would have damp and mossy woodland, here
the fallen trees end up bleached and brittle. Part of today was SO steep we
had to get off and let the horses go down alone. Ale and Luis stayed on
though - they must have glue on their bums! The Chilean saddle and stirrups
are very different to the English ones though and do make you feel much more
confident and secure in the down bits (well, it meant Allison didn't squeak
QUITE as much as she might have done otherwise!! - not a brave soldier going
down hill!!) The end of the ride today was at some hot springs. We
untacked and rode the horses to the field bareback...with cantering
too....and then back for a beer. Then, Huw went for a snooze and Allison
went with Steve and Katy to the springs. How good are these things? The
hot water flowed into the river and so there were some VERY hot parts, some
cooler bits and then the river was freezing. We were all brave enough to
get into the river but Katy got the highest score for braving the cold the
most. We were the objects of much amusement to a Chilean family...three
very white Gringo's squealing and exclaiming at the water temp.....what more
do you need for entertainment? Dinner tonight was a bar-b-que prepared by
Luis and Ale and was delicious and was washed down with red wine. Tops.

Up around 8am, to the sound of bellowing cows, and then breakfast by the
fire. Then to find the horses. We discovered they are NOT as good as we'd
thought last night.....we were actually camped in a huge enclosed
plain...and so they couldn't have gone home even if they'd wanted to!!
Saddled up and off around 11am - a lovely steady pace to this trip - another
fabulous day. We did lots more up and down, through ancient forest of huge,
tall, monkey puzzle trees. This whole area is famous for them and they are
magnificent. There are also huge areas with only low growth and that is as
a result of a very large fire over 50 years ago - it puts the age of the
other trees into perspective. Everything is very dry here - it is a totally
different climate - they do get rain and snow but then the rest of the time
is very dry so, where at home we would have damp and mossy woodland, here
the fallen trees end up bleached and brittle. Part of today was SO steep we
had to get off and let the horses go down alone. Ale and Luis stayed on
though - they must have glue on their bums! The Chilean saddle and stirrups
are very different to the English ones though and do make you feel much more
confident and secure in the down bits (well, it meant Allison didn't squeak
QUITE as much as she might have done otherwise!! - not a brave soldier going
down hill!!) The end of the ride today was at some hot springs. We
untacked and rode the horses to the field bareback...with cantering
too....and then back for a beer. Then, Huw went for a snooze and Allison
went with Steve and Katy to the springs. How good are these things? The
hot water flowed into the river and so there were some VERY hot parts, some
cooler bits and then the river was freezing. We were all brave enough to
get into the river but Katy got the highest score for braving the cold the
most. We were the objects of much amusement to a Chilean family...three
very white Gringo's squealing and exclaiming at the water temp.....what more
do you need for entertainment? Dinner tonight was a bar-b-que prepared by
Luis and Ale and was delicious and was washed down with red wine. Tops.

Allison woke up around 7am and got up and went for another hot springs
dip....pure bliss to lie in gorgeous hot water and watch the sun come up and
touch the mountains...ahhhh. Then had to sort out a chocolate / clothing
crisis. Huw had stashed two bars of chocolate (emergency rations) in his
bag. Unfortunately, they must have been near the outside of the saddle bag
and in with his clothes. Hot sun + chocolate = melted chocolate all over
trousers, underpants, socks and t-shirt. Tsk. Not only was it a
mess....there was no chocolate left!! Ale helped to sort the problem out by
showing Allison the "bath" rooms where you can use shampoo as the water goes
into the drains not back into the river. The bath are carved out of wood and
the water is pumped straight from the springs and it is great!! Then
breakfast and horses from the field - Huw was very brave and rode bareback
back down from the field. We finally got around to leaving around 12.30pm
and rode up a wide valley with a sandy track. We stopped for lunch at a
logging place and Huw provided the after lunch entertainment by performing a
perfect side-wards roll into a ditch....barely missing the stream! There
was a polite pause.....and then hysterical laughter from the rest of us!
Bless him! The rest of the ride today was through a bamboo forest. Not
only did the horses want to eat like it was their last ever chance but there
were some HUGE steep bits - Allison squeaking again, but more quietly now!
It really feels like a HUGE adventure, proper exploration stuff - which in a
sense it is as with every rainfall there are landslides and trees fall and
we had to make detours off the path - although "the path" is an
overstatement really. Got to the camp site, another open space and let the
horses wander around with long ropes tied round their necks while we put the
tents up and got sorted. The fire was lit and vegetable rice was made for
tea. We had hoped to walk down to the Laguna after tea but Ale decided we
wouldn't get back before dark. Steve was disappointed as he has brought a
telescopic fishing rod with him and wanted to have a go. We built the fire
up to a roaring blaze with two massive logs though and spent the evening
with toasted marshmallows (on bamboo sticks) and little nips of whisky from
Huw's hip flask. The horses were put into a huge corral built of massive
tree trunks for the night. Nice.