Join us for our annual members' social evening. We start with a photo quiz compiled by Harry and Jean Wickens. We will then enjoy a BYO buffet, and in the second half of the evening listen to a short travel talk given by our assistant programme secretary Paul Gillingham.

Paul joins his two sons in Santiago before fulfilling a boyhood dream of visiting the faded glories of Valparaiso.

They then load three bikes onto a bus for Chile’s Lake District and spend a month weaving between snow-capped volcanoes, wallowing in thermal pools and flourishing on one-pot cooking, wild camping and ‘ripio’ roads. They climb the lower Andes into Argentina, returning by boat through the mountains into Chile, spotting two condors and befriending wild ‘Wilfy’ en route.

Returning to Santiago and re-crossing the Andes by bus, Paul samples the grape in Mendoza and seeks out Evita and tango in Buenos Aires, learning something of the darker side of the region’s history along the way.

Now retired, Paul taught history in four continents before becoming a TV & radio journalist, travelling widely in pursuit of stories.

La Boca barrio, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Tango Afficionados

Patagonian Gaucho crossing the road (quite carefully)

Roadside stall with view of Villarica, Chile