Quellón sits at the southern end of Chiloé, a working port town of about twenty-two thousand people, where the road simply stops. This is the end of Route 5, the Chilean section of the Pan-American Highway, which runs more than three thousand kilometres from the northern desert to here, and a sign on the waterfront marks the spot. For anyone who has ridden down the long thin country, the moment of reaching it is oddly emotional, even if the town itself is practical rather than pretty.
The harbour is busy with fishing boats and salmon-farm vessels, and the smell of the sea and diesel hangs in the air. Salmon farming has become the main industry of the island, with pens in the sheltered waters of the channels, and it has brought work and controversy in about equal measure. A ferry runs from Quellón to Chaitén and Puerto Chacabuco on the mainland, linking Chiloé with the Carretera Austral. The town has fuel, supermarkets, a hospital and a selection of guesthouses and restaurants, so it is a good place to rest.
Food is the draw. Seafood is fresh and cheap, with mussels, clams, sea urchin and fish, and the Chilote curanto, cooked in a pit with hot stones, is the national dish of the island. The cooking relies on a rich variety of local potatoes, of which there are said to be hundreds of varieties, and on smoked meat and rhubarb-like nalca stalks. The island's folk tradition is full of stories of sea creatures and spirits, and in a fishing town like this, they are told with a straight face.
South of town, the land becomes wilder, and the private Tantauco Park protects a large area of temperate rainforest and coast, with walking tracks and the chance to see foxes, pudú deer and rare birds. The road to it is gravel in places. Rain is normal in every month, so wear good waterproofs and expect fog. Summer is the best time for the ride, with longer days and a little more sun, though it is never really hot. Park the bike by the waterfront, and let the end of the road sink in.