The Government’s highly anticipated Defence Investment Plan was revealed last month, with the plan’s backers hailing it as a transformation built on drones and artificial intelligence – but the numbers reveal an ironclad commitment to submarine-based nuclear deterrence, with spending dwarfing new investment in novel technology like drones.

Analysis of the figures shows Britain’s nuclear deterrent and its associated costs continue to vastly exceed all other military spending. The plan, which commits £298 billion to UK defence over four years to 2030, ring-fences £63.6 billion for the Defence Nuclear Enterprise – the Dreadnought submarine programme, a replacement nuclear warhead named Astraea, and the nuclear-powered AUKUS attack submarine programme. The DIP says this is over £20 billion more than was spent across the previous four-year period.

The significant investment comes amid warnings that the nuclear deterrent’s cost is crowding out innovation elsewhere.

Giving evidence to the Commons Defence Committee on 7 July, Lord Robertson – the lead author of the Strategic Defence Review that preceded the DIP, and a former NATO Secretary General – told MPs that the nuclear budget was constraining Britain’s wider military ambitions.

He said: “Our nuclear forces take up at least 20%, maybe even 25%, of the MOD budget. It is crucial to the security of this country, and indeed to wider Europe, that we have that independent nuclear deterrent – the only one that is committed to NATO.

“However, it is very expensive and that crowds out a lot of the other ambitions that the country might want to have at the moment.”

Lord Robertson added: “This needs to be seen in the broader context. If we are going to have an independent nuclear deterrent, we have to be able to pay the price of that and face the fact that it squeezes the conventional defence of the country and our wider contribution to NATO much more tightly.”

Within the nuclear spend, the plan allocates £47 billion to submarines, including infrastructure and maintenance, £13 billion to warhead development, £1.7 billion to a nuclear fuels programme and £290 million to nuclear workforce skills. The submarine figure covers four building programmes running in parallel for the first time – Dreadnought, concept work on its eventual successor, the tail of the Astute class, and up to 12 SSN-AUKUS boats – taking the Royal Navy’s nuclear-powered fleet from 11 boats to a potential 16.

The Government agreed in June to seek to establish a new Commons committee to scrutinise the enterprise’s spending, after the Public Accounts Committee found the MoD could not account for more than £6 billion of its assets.

Drones and autonomous systems which dominated coverage surrounding the plan will stretch to just £5 billion across the three services – less than a twelfth of the nuclear commitment and smaller than the budgets for munitions and the Tempest fighter programme.

General Sir Richard Barrons, the SDR’s other external reviewer and a former Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff, told the same July Commons Defence Committee he would have gone harder and faster on both.

He said: “I do wish that we had had money set aside for some of the bigger transformations. I would have moved faster on the digital targeting web, for example, because I do not think that it is really difficult. I would have put more money into the attritable drones, which have just appeared in the DIP for the Navy, the Air Force and the Army.”

General Barrons said the plan captured the right direction of travel but moved too slowly for the threat, adding: “It makes and accelerates some early moves, but they are small in number, and then a lot of it is too leisurely for the world we live in.”

Four years into Russia’s war in Ukraine, and amid a US-Israeli war with Iran centred on its nuclear ambitions, Britain’s nuclear deterrent remains a core pillar of its military doctrine, with four nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines of the Vanguard class conducting ‘continuous at-sea deterrent’ to dissuade adversaries from strategic-level attacks.

The Defence Investment Plan itself said: “The [Strategic Defence Review] made clear that a modernised nuclear deterrent is essential for the defence of the UK. It underpins our security in a new nuclear age and worsening security environment, characterised by Russia’s aggression, China’s nuclear expansion, and North Korea’s destabilising weapons programme.

“As one of only three nuclear powers in NATO, the UK provides the ultimate guarantee of security for itself and its NATO allies.”

The plan does continue to leave space for innovation, with £100 million ring-fenced for the new Rapid AI Delivery Taskforce, known as TF RAID.

Chief of the Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, said: “I am determined that TF RAID is not just another piece of window dressing, set up to give us comfort that something is happening. The focus of Taskforce RAID is on delivering necessary operational capability, quickly.”

It comes as the Government scrambles to keep up with rapidly evolving improvements in AI and their applications in defence and industry. US export controls in June briefly cut off global access to Anthropic’s most advanced model, Fable – restrictions imposed on 12 June and withdrawn on 30 June – in an episode that caused disquiet in Whitehall over the reliability of American supplied AI applications.

The Government has said defence spending between 2030 and 2035 has been deliberately left unallocated, which the MoD says will allow it to respond as the threat evolves and technology advances.

With political and privacy concerns raised in recent months by opponents of US AI company Palantir’s contracts with customers including the MoD and Metropolitan Police, home-grown British alternatives are increasingly being sought.

Cutting-edge AI software offered by top companies like Valarian allows major businesses, militaries or government departments to integrate AI securely, knitting together legacy systems and offering significant efficiency gains.

Valarian Founder Max Buchan said the company wants to compete with the best tech companies in the world.

He said: “The island our grandparents defended now runs on somebody else’s software. I’ve spent the last six years building Valarian to change that.

“Everyone seems to think that the country that produced Turing, broke ENIGMA and produced DeepMind has to run on foreign software. But we’ve just raised £41 million to continue to build out Europe’s sovereign, digital infrastructure from right here in London.

“Our sovereign systems, designed to protect the UK and her allies, are already deployed across four continents and we’re just getting started.”

The latest funding represents a significant boost for the company, representing almost a fourfold increase on previous investment.

It comes after growing calls for Britain to correct its reliance on US technology. Ministers called for more investment in British alternatives after the US government ordered AI-giant Anthropic to cut-off use of its leading model ‘Fable’ outside of the country earlier this year.

Palantir, which has key contracts with the Ministry of Defence and the NHS, has sought to defend its role in Britain recently after London Mayor Sadiq Khan initially sought to block the company’s pilot programme with the Met Police.

Palantir’s UK boss Louis Mosley said he welcomed scrutiny. Referring to the company’s £330million contract with the NHS, Mosley said: “Asserting there should be a British alternative is not the same as there being one.”

He added: “The NHS ran an 18-month, fully open and competitive tender for the FDP. Every major tech company bid, thirty independent evaluators assessed the field, and Palantir won. For what it’s worth, the companies that came second and third in that competition were also both American.”

Palantir’s software has seen a 6.8% increase in patients finding out whether they have cancer in 28 days, and more than 111,000 additional operations delivered – equivalent to three new hospitals a year.

But last week a second Parliamentary committee called for the company’s NHS contract to be scrapped. In a letter to the Health Secretary the committee said patient data was at risk of being misused.

One anonymous signatory to the letter, a senior data scientist, said: “A frankly mediocre software is being forced on NHS data systems at the expense of patient trust, professional integrity and the fundamental values of the NHS. How can we say we want to use software for saving lives when that same software is also used to kill and ruin lives?”

Many on the left in the UK have opposed the company over its close links to the US and Israeli Governments, with its software being used by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as the Israeli Defence Force in its operations in Gaza.

The political wrangling is likely to create space in the sector for competitors, with the committee’s chair, Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran saying: “in the interest of public confidence in the NHS and the security of their medical information, we believe it is time to crack on with preparations to find an alternative.”

Valarian’s latest funding round leaves the startup well positioned to compete.

Buchan said: “Our sovereign systems, designed to protect the UK and her allies are already deployed across four continents and we’re just getting started.”

The UK Space and Defence Gateway was opened at Harwell, the country’s leading innovation campus focused on fostering research and collaboration between government, academia and industry, as part of efforts to shore up and accelerate Britain’s industrial edge in space and defence.

The Gateway launched in alignment with the King’s ‘Astra Carta’, a global framework aimed at ensuring the developing sector supports a sustainable future both in space and on earth.

Space Minister, Baroness Liz Lloyd said the opening marked a significant moment for the UK, saying: “His Majesty The King’s visit to Harwell underlines the vital contribution this cluster makes to our economy.

“We are committed to building the national capabilities that deliver better space services and create global export opportunities. I look forward to seeing the Gateway deepen the collaboration that turns world-class talent into real breakthroughs.”

It comes after the Government’s recent Defence Investment Plan (DIP) set aside £3.2 billion for investment into new space-related defence funding up to 2030, with funds split between £2.3 billion set aside for new satellite communications innovation, and an £880 million pledged for space-based and controlled Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) technology.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Harv Smyth, Chief of the Air Staff said: “Across the UK, innovative companies are transforming our understanding of what is possible in space. The Defence Investment Plan’s funding for space enables us to back these companies and help them deliver the technologies that now underpin our prosperity and security.”

The Harwell Campus is also the home of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) Space facility, the UK’s National Space Laboratory, which has contributed to more than 200 instruments in space including earth observation applications aimed at supporting action on biodiversity loss and climate change.

RAL Space Director Dr Sarah Beardsley said its work on cutting edge satellite research and development will result in innovation that shapes the country’s future.

She said: “The Gateway, driven by the sustainability principles of the Astra Carta, underscores the importance of growing our space economy in a way that protects space and our planet as source of wonder for future generations.”

RAL Space is a cornerstone of the campus’ Defence and Security cluster – one of more than 330 Defence and Security organisations at the site including the European Space Agency, which established a major satellite hub at the site in 2009, and the UK Space Agency.

While the new Space and Defence Gateway was lauded by key industry figures however, the Defence Investment Plan has seen some criticism from sceptical voices since its announcement last month.

Writing in The Conversation, Dr Bleddyn Bowen and Scott Mackie of Durham University said it was unclear how much of the £3.2 billion set aside for space defence investment is ‘new’ funding compared to restated commitments.

They also suggested that the doctrine set out in the DIP ultimately means a reliance on foreign private and governmental space infrastructure controlled by allies to conduct ISR against adversaries.

They said: “The consequence is that British military operations will continue to depend on a ‘central nervous system’ that is not sovereign.”

That places greater weight on UK diplomacy, foreign policy, and contracting mechanisms to ensure continued access to US, European, and transnational commercial space infrastructure.”

A NATO Innovation Fund study found European defence, security, and resilience startups raised a record $8.7bn in 2025 – up 55% on the previous year.

The collapse of vaunted British space launch company Orbex in February 2026 demonstrated how brutal the sector can be, but plenty of promising British space startups are quickly filling the space – here are the top five home-grown British space startups worth watching.

1. Space Forge (Cardiff)

As modern computers push beyond the known limits of advancement, the semiconductors that power them are requiring ever more mind-bending precision.

With the Artificial Intelligence boom leading to shortages and competing nations manoeuvring to protect and secure chip supplies, startups like Space Forge are searching for innovative ways to compete.

Probably the UK’s flagship space startup right now, Space Forge is building microwave-sized manufacturing units to produce semiconductors in space, where microgravity unlocks material properties that are impossible to achieve on Earth.

These crystal ‘seeds’, once safely returned to earth, will be worth tens of millions of dollars per kilogram.

After its demonstrator achieved a world-first by generating plasma in orbit at the turn of the year, Space Forge co-founder and CEO Joshua Western said: “Our ForgeStar-1 mission continues to demonstrate what’s possible when the UK’s most innovative engineering and manufacturing expertise comes together.”

2. SatVu (London)

London-based SatVu is bringing entirely new intelligence capabilities to space with its thermal imaging satellites.

Capable of revealing heat signatures day or night, the technology has wide applications including revealing operational activity, monitoring climate or assessing industrial output – providing intelligence that NATO says isn’t available from other commercial sources.

Doubling its total equity funding with a £30m injection which included the NATO Innovation Fund earlier this year, the company is planning a second new satellite launch in 2026, en route to a goal of more than ten satellites in constellation.

With customers like the US National Reconnaissance Office recently adding the company to its testing pool and SatVu launching its commercial operations through its ‘HotSat-2’, CEO Anthony Baker said: “[This] is the point in time when customers are no longer evaluating thermal data as an emerging technology - they are integrating it into operational workflows that support strategic decision making.”

3. Pulsar Fusion (Bletchley)

As humankind draws ever closer to the glittering goal of expansion across the solar system, the vast distances remain a stubborn challenge for future transit to a potential Mars colony.

Bletchley-headquartered Pulsar Fusion is working hard to shrink our solar neighbourhood in the same way air-travel shrank the earth a century ago – only this time, using ‘fusion propulsion’.

Successfully achieving ‘first plasma’ in its Sunbird exhaust test system at its Bletchley HQ earlier in March, the company plans to eventually produce a nuclear-fusion driven engine, with the resulting superheated-plasma directed by powerful magnets to create a blisteringly fast exhaust that could produce speeds of roughly 800,000kmh – potentially reducing transit times to Mars from months to weeks.

An in-orbit demonstration is targeted for 2027, and Pulsar Fusion is working closely with the UK Atomic Energy Authority on neutron-shielding. With the company rapidly scaling up, it may be British ‘space-tugboats’ pushing humanity to Mars in the not-so-distant future.

4. Skyrora (Glasgow/Edinburgh)

Now Britain’s leading sovereign rocket launch hope following the collapse of its rival Orbex earlier this year, Skyrora has secured launch licenses from the Civil Aviation Authority for 16 sub-orbital launches from SaxaVord Spaceport in Shetland, and the company is targeting orbital launches for late 2026 or early 2027.

The company has been exploring purchases of select assets from defunct competitor Orbex, including the Sutherland Spaceport, giving renewed hope for the country’s burgeoning space-launch industry.

The company said: “Skyrora believes that securing select assets is vital to preserving UK space capability, protecting national critical infrastructure, and ensuring that technology and IP developed in the UK remains under UK ownership.”

5. NewOrbit Space (Reading)

Perhaps the fastest-riser among British space innovators, NewOrbit is hoping to compete in the ‘very low earth orbit’ (VLEO) satellite space, an as-yet largely unexplored commercial field in the sector.

With its satellites capable of overcoming the challenges of lower-orbit like aerodynamic drag, NewOrbit Space promises capabilities including drone-quality imagery from orbit for 20x lower cost than lower-resolution competitors, and 5G connectivity directly to mobile phones.

Following a new $18.5m (£13.7m) funding round in June, the company’s CEO and co-founder Anatolii Papulov said: “For sixty years, VLEO has been treated as too hostile for commercial satellites. It is in fact the most valuable empty real estate in space.”

The company is hoping to open its planned NEO Production Complex in 2027, scaling up from ten satellites per year to several per week, which it says would make it Europe’s largest dedicated VLEO facility. Its first commercial launches are planned for 2028.

The casting director behind three decades of James Bond films has insisted the spy ought to remain as Ian Fleming wrote him.

Debbie McWilliams, who cast the last 14 Bond films before retiring, was asked at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival whether the next Bond could be a woman or a person of colour.

She said: “Not in my opinion. No.”

“Ian Fleming wrote a character, and that’s the character that stays. That’s what I think. Other people might think otherwise, but I don’t think that.” McWilliams added.

Asked whether she ever returned to Fleming’s books when casting, she said: “Guess what? I’ve never read a James Bond book in my life,” adding that “as the time went on, the scripts bore no relation to the books at all.”

The exchange lands at an inflection point for the franchise, as the team set to usher in the new era of Bond say honouring Fleming’s creative vision is precisely the plan.

Steven Knight, the Peaky Blinders creator brought in to write the as-yet-untitled Bond 26, told BBC Radio 4 in March that he is drawing directly on the novels.

He said: “The books are so good, so underrated as literature. There’s something about the world that he created that is tangibly real, and yet it’s something that isn’t real. It’s almost dreamlike somehow.”

Knight added: “I just love the style of how [Fleming] writes, and the dialogue is so good.”

Director Denis Villeneuve, announced by Amazon MGM Studios last summer, struck a similarly reverent tone.

He said: “I’m a die-hard Bond fan. To me, he’s sacred territory, I intend to honour the tradition and open the path for many new missions to come.”

In a further tease of the kind of character fans can expect, earlier this year Knight told Screen Daily that he has been consulting “the SAS and even more secret outfits” as part of his writing process.

He said: “I am talking to them about what they do every day. It’s all real.”

“[Ian Fleming] was living that life. In the war, he was doing those things. He knew people doing that stuff, going out there and killing people.” Knight added.

The famed author served in the Royal Navy’s intelligence division during the Second World War as personal assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence, where he helped plan the wartime Operation Goldeneye – later the name of the Jamaican estate where he wrote all fourteen Bond books.

McWilliams insisted that the danger which informed Fleming’s Bond had to be felt.

She said: “Part of his job description is ‘licence to kill’, so you’ve got to think that he could pick a gun up and shoot you.

“He’s got to have a kind of threat about him. I’m not sure that Pierce Brosnan had that particularly... and Daniel sort of changed that somewhat.” McWilliams added.

With Daniel Craig’s vaunted era as Bond coming to a close with 2021’s ‘No Time to Die’, Bond 26 will become the first film made under Amazon MGM’s full creative control after long-time producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson stepped back.

The expected creative restart has caused disquiet among fans, including McWilliams herself, who said: “It’s about to change dramatically, is all I can say, and I’m not sure whether I’ll be paying my money to go and see it or not.”

But many will feel cautiously reassured by the creative vision teased by Knight and Villeneuve, with a return to the source and to Fleming likely to intrigue and satisfy audience excitement, as the face behind a new era of Bond remains yet to be revealed.

On a foggy morning in the port of Felixstowe, a 400-metre cargo-vessel glides into its berth– it is an integral ligament of the British economy. 95% of the nation’s trade, from bananas to pharmaceuticals, arrives by sea.

The ship’s legal contract was written under English law, insured through Lloyd’s of London, and chartered by a major broker in the City. But the ship itself flies the flag of Panama, it was built in China, is owned by a Greek firm and crewed mostly by Filipinos. For half a century this division of labour represented a triumph of global market efficiency.

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The resulting dominance of Britain’s service specialisation is stark. The shipping industry contributed £16.1bn to the economy in 2023. The sector's total economic footprint is £46.2bn, sustaining some 728,000 jobs.

London’s markets command over a third of global maritime insurance premiums and settled an overwhelming 83% of all international maritime arbitrations in 2019.

Once-ubiquitous, the Red-Ensign has now almost vanished. The number of British seafarers has collapsed by almost 60% since 1980, down to just 23,700 today. On vessels operated by the UK Chamber of Shipping, only 11% of crew are British nationals.

The UK-flagged trading fleet, which accounted for a tenth of global tonnage in 1975, now makes up a mere 0.4%.

The specialisation was deliberate. From 1979, rising economic currents promoted comparative advantage: it is simply inefficient for a high-wage economy to build ships. Like deindustrialisation elsewhere, to remain competitive Britain would specialise in high-value services like law and finance and employ hardware as needed. The end of the Cold War only reinforced the logic, seemingly evaporating any strategic need for a large merchant fleet.

But those assumptions are now being undermined. The Covid-19 pandemic showed the fragility of sea-borne logistics as the Drewry World Container Index, a benchmark for freight rates, soared by over 600% in late 2021. The return of great-power competition has turned economic dependency into a strategic risk as China, through its strategic industrial policy, now dominates the physical maritime sector, building half of global shipping tonnage in 2024. Chinese state-controlled firms have a presence in at least 91 ports worldwide, handling 12.6% of global container throughput.

Acknowledging the risks in a recent report for NATO British and American maritime unions warned of the "alarming decline" in member fleets.

Margaret Thatcher initiated a free-market revolution, but could only win the Falklands war by requisitioning 54 civilian ships to transport troops 8,000 miles to the South Atlantic. Replicating such an operation today would likely be impossible without requisition-able British ships and sailors.

The OECD forecasts the global “blue economy” could double in value to $3trn by 2030, yet Britain is failing to fully capitalise. A significant portion of the specialist vessels used to construct the UK's world-leading offshore wind farms are foreign-owned and crewed. With British content for these projects languishing at 48%, below a 60% government aspiration, the country is effectively offshoring the industrial benefits of its own net-zero transition, eliminating a key growth advantage.

A protectionist retreat is neither possible nor desirable; the maritime-services hub is far too valuable to jeopardise. But a strategic rebalancing of the nation’s maritime economy may be in order.

Proposals include reforming the tonnage-tax regime, linking its benefits not just to training of cadets but to the employment of British seafarers; Using the government's £206m UK SHORE fund to invest in the domestic construction of the high-value vessels needed for offshore-wind and aquaculture; And strengthening UK content requirements for offshore projects. For the still-great maritime nation it will take deft captaining to find both fair wind and following seas. ■

This article was written as part of an application to The Economist.

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Vast Patagonia, with its soaring peaks, colossal glaciers and unparalleled natural beauty, has long called out to explorers with a tantalising promise of adventure.

This rugged final-frontier is a bucket-list destination, and there is no better way to traverse it than by adventure-bike.

That’s why we teamed up with Edelweiss bike tours to chart a truly unforgettable route through this region of unparalleled beauty rich with adventure.

From Osorno to the End of the Earth.

If you’re seeking the ride of a lifetime through the world-renowned Andes mountains, you may not find a better starting point than the Southern Chilean city of Osorno. With tantalising views of the Fuji-esque Osorno Volcano and the great Patagonian mountains beyond, this charming city in the heart of the Lake District is the perfect place for riders to acclimatise with an easy cruise through lush countryside. As your journey begins you will be met by awe inspiring views of this region full of pristine lakes and colossal volcanoes, setting the stage for a trip defined unbeatable natural beauty.

You’ll first head for Pucon on the shores of Lake Villarica and in the shadow of the Villarica Volcano, and finally pass the threshold into the mountains. Here you’ll climb winding forested heights, and cross into the high plateau of Western Argentina, before turning South and making for the Andes Lakes. In just a short day’s ride you’ll experience an incredible diversity of natural environments with new sights around every switchback and steady bend- and you can expect a mix of riding conditions, from smooth asphalt to some gravel trails which mark the start of serious adventure.

Conquering Ruta 40: The Road Less Travelled

From San Martin de los Andes you’ll continue along the renowned Ruta 40 as it enters the Andes Mountain region. This legendary route is the archetypal road to adventure. Snaking through the stunning vast expanse of the Patagonian interior, you’ll be met with a mix of terrains- each bend will test your adaptability on the bike, from loose gravel trails near El Bolsón to wind-swept plains in Torres del Paine. With a diverse adventure-riding experience of unceasing variety, few roads on earth embody the spirit of adventure quite like this rite of passage.

On this stretch you’ll experience true Patagonia, hugging mountain roads in the shadows of towering icy peaks, cruising past turquoise blue lakes, and before you know it, crossing the arid steppe that stretches as far as the eye can see. This is truly a still-wild west and you’re sure to catch sight of Gaucho cowboys in these parts as you make up miles heading further south.

Arriving in El Bolsón, Argentina’s ‘hippy town’ is a mountain haven and offers a comforting reprieve from the saddle. The perfect pit-stop, known for its vibrant art-scene, here you’ll meet friendly local artisans who offer a glimpse into the human heart of the Patagonia region. Unwind and recoup your strength with delicious local cuisine and locally made craft beers before hitting the road once again.

Crossing Back into Chile: The Gateway to Adventure in Futaleufú

Heading into the mountains you’ll cross back into Chile on the road to Futaleufú leaving behind arid plains and entering a verdant, rich landscape of rivers and lakes. Twisting turns through dense forest and over high mountain passes unlock this isolated part of southern Chile. In the Mapuche language its name means ‘Big River’ and this town is synonymous with adventure-sports. Featuring rapids up to class 4 and 5, adventure-sports enthusiasts are drawn here from across the globe, and you too will have the chance to experience exhilarating white-water rafting which is among the best on earth.

El Calafate’s Glacial Giants

Mounting up and heading south again, you’ll see a transition to more open vistas with broad horizons and open road. This windswept expanse is a fitting test for any rider, and distant views of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field on the horizon will beckon you onwards towards to the wonders of the Los Glaciares National Park.

Arriving in El Calafate, here you’ll be taking a day to explore a world-famous UNESCO heritage sight. Nestling on the shores of Lake Argentino, this town sits at the foot of the stunning Perito Moreno Glacier, one of the very few advancing glaciers in the world. With great accessibility you’re guaranteed to see a truly unforgettable wonder of the natural world, and maybe even glimpse a major rupture event for which this glacier is especially famous.

Through Torres del Paine: A Journey Through Living Postcards

Moving on further into this region dominated by glaciers, you will enter the Torres del Paine National Park. Towered over by colossal granite pillars carved out by glaciers, these ‘Torres’ from which the park gets its name will accompany you through a national park famed for its rich biodiversity. Varied roads, occasional river crossings and fast-changing weather will have you switched on, and you will want to be in a place like this. You’ll see rare, majestic Andean Condors circling above and stand the chance to catch sight of majestic Pumas too.

Ushuaia: Where Every End is a New Beginning

As forest begins to give way to sub-Antarctic moorlands you’ll begin the approach to Ushuaia, where the Andes meet the Southern Ocean at the End of the World. At the last outpost of humanity before the frozen continent of Antarctica you’ll find a place with a unique heritage built on native culture and a legacy of European exploration. A mysterious point of both finality and beginning, no matter how you got here, in Ushuaia in some way you’re always starting your next adventure. A bustling staging point for explorers sailing for Antarctica, you don’t have to go far to get a sense of the frozen continent- a short ride East and you can visit the penguin colony on Martillo Island. Coming face to face with these truly wild explorers brings home the harmony that’s possible between humanity and the wild-beyond, the perfect way to end an unforgettable ride with the friends you’ve made on the road to the end of the world.

Your Patagonian Dream Ride Awaits with Edelweiss adventure tours.

What makes this once in a lifetime journey so special is its astonishing depth, words can never do this region justice, so get planning now and hit the road in style with Edelweiss.

Offering a guided adventure-bike tour along this route, you’ll be provided all the essentials including a support vehicle and comfortable accommodation, check Edelweiss website for all the details.

This article was written as an example piece.