Day 32, 82km:(by Chris)

Today a relentless 6000ft pass of endless switchbacks destroyed Amy's legs and morale. The road on the map looked like someone had dropped a bowl of noodles. Following an all day climb and after the third false top, she declared 'I don't care any more, who knows where this road goes, perhaps into the sky and eventually we will get to the moon'. We topped out at 10,200ft then enjoyed a long freewheel 30km down the other side into a town where we could recuperate, ready to do it all again tomorrow.

The sign Amy dreads: Up, and then more up.

A lorry that fell off one of the hairpins and rolled down the mountain:

Day 31, 64km: (by Amy)

Our route up into the mountains unfortunately had a big tunnel on it (3.5km). The problem with the tunnels is that the noise and proximity of the traffic is terrifying. We decided for safety to walk along the drainage covers at the edge (a sort of raised pavement) slightly away from the trucks. Unlike a pavement, bits of the cover were missing meaning we kept having to stop and lift the bikes over gaping holes in the dark unlit tunnel. About 2 thirds of the way through the covers disintegrated entirely. We bit the bullet pulled our bikes onto the road and made a break for the exit thankfully before the next volley of trucks.

After this I was hoping for no more tunnels for the day but unfortunately another smaller tunnel (1km) arrived just a few hours later. The map showed it was possible to take the old road around which I was strongly in favour of. Unfortunately the old road disappeared under a huge landslide around the corner. As I made my way  back to the dreaded tunnel I slipped on a stream running across the road sending the bike from under me and landing me in a pile of slime on my bum. Several children came out of the closest house to see if I was ok. Chris helped me up and re-attached my trailer. As I was a soggy, fed up and spelt like a ditch we stopped at a guesthouse in a village soon after. We had to move rooms because the first room we were put in had a floater in the toilet that wouldn't flush away. Chris showed the proprietress which made her giggle. Once in our new room we were handed candles and a pomegranate as compensation ( there was no electricity).

Day 30, 67km: (by Chris)

Thunder, lightening and rain woke us this morning. We struggled out of the foliage and down the wet road before starting another huge climb up into the clouds to 10,000 ft where the cold bleak hills were covered in stunted bushes. It looked like Scotland. From there we descended for 47km to 5000ft to a town where we stayed in a hotel that insisted we must register as temporary visitors at the police station and fill in the appropriate forms. This should be done everywhere we stay, but it's a right hassle for both us and the guesthouse owners so most of the time no one bothers with this, instead we hurry inside so not to be seen by the police.

On the way up - a typical view in China with gazillions of pylons:

Day 29, 37km: (by Amy)

We set off late after our late finish yesterday. Passed through rolling farmland. Then over a pass where beekeepers had there hive's by the road and were selling honey (it looked yummy but was in huge pots too big for us to take).

Chris found a camp spot in the pine forests on the plateau at the top. We had just settled down when randomly a man walked through the trees with a cow. He didn't see us but was a bit too close for comfort so we moved further into the woods and ate our supernoodles with a view of the mountains.

Day 28, 117km: (by Chris)

After our mammoth hill that took us 3 days to get up, this morning we were treated to 90km of downhill, passing through rustic dirty farming towns where, oddly, a lot of houses had knackered old pool tables outside them.

In one town I saw a woman selling fried bread sticks. i skidded to a stop and got very excited about this because the biggest loaf of bread I have found in china outside major cities so far was the size of my thumb and was actually brioche. I love bread, especially fried bread so I bought her entire stock.

After 90km our luck changed. The road suddenly turned uphill and turned into a gravel track. I normally like gravel tracks and uphill, but not today, with trucks kicking up clouds of dust. Amy doesn't like tracks or uphill at the best of times so she had a terrible afternoon which just got worse when our progress was slowed so much that we ended up bouncing over rocks in the dark and the dust until we reached our destination at 20:30. Amy's bad day was topped off when she dropped her shampoo bottle into a grotty, crusty brown pit toilet.

Day 27, 44km: (by Amy)

Today our lovely road got steeper passing through grassland with free range pigs and eventually turned into a gravel track in forest and ascended to 9800ft. I decided very quickly that I hate tracks. It was like riding on a stream bed. We stopped for pasta (which i have been carrying since Chengdu) 5km from the top when I realised we weren't going to make the pass at any reasonable lunch hour. A sign at the top said the area was a nature reserve with wild giant pandas and jaguars. The veiws were fantastic down the valley. We looked for a camp spot on the way down but the land was too steep and the bamboo forest too thick. Instead we ended up in a guesthouse where Chris got bitten by bed bugs (I used my own sleeping bag) and the toilet was a concrete pit in the yard with maggots climbing up the sides.  Nice.

Day 26, 58km: (by Chris)

We continued up the gorge, uphill all the way. We bought supplies from a mountain town full of curious Chinese people and found a bag of biscuits the size of a pillow. I was very happy.

We lunched by the river where miraculously we found a spot where we could not see any houses or people so I took the opportunity to go skinny dipping. In the evening we found a guesthouse that required walking through the pig house and the chicken coup to get to the shower which was a tin box mounted on the wall with a shower head on the bottom.

On the way to the shower:

    

Day 25, 83km: (by Amy)

Now we were out of the tourist area the cycle path was gone and it wasn't long before Chris had ear plugs in to dampen the horn noise.  We could only find mini packaged bread for lunch about which Chris was not happy.

Later, I got to the top of a pass to find Chris talking to a group of young people who gave us a massive orange and invited us back for dinner although we couldn't go as they lived way off route. 

After an industrial town we left the trucks behind and headed up a lovely gorge road. We were guided to a guesthouse by a helpful man on a tiny bike.

Days 23 & 24: (by Chris)

Today we set off up the holy mountain Mt Emishan. Starting at 700m and climbing to 3070m over two days. The lower slopes were shrouded in mist and sub-tropical forest with the occasional monkey jumping out and attacking you and your biscuit-filled rucksack. No monkey gets between me and my lunch and his onslaught was short lived.

We stayed in a Buddhist monastery dormitory for the night and woke to a glorious golden sunrise well above the clouds. We stood in the crisp morning air captivated by the glorious scenery, until a Chinese man loudly snorted up a huge lump of green phlegm and spat it onto the floor with a wet splat. This the more usual morning experience for us; most Chinese do this without the slightest hint of embarrassment wherever they might be. We climbed hundreds more steps, Amy found an earth worm 16inches long and we passed lots of snack bars. These were wooden shacks where someone is selling refreshments that they have hauled up the mountain on their backs. A lot of vendors were selling bottled water and if nothing else I admired the challenge they'd set themselves on a mountain riddled with fresh-water springs. At the summit we found a wide stone staircase below a huge golden statue of a golden multi-headed person sat on lots of elephants. The view was spectacular and we saw gargantuan snow covered mountains in the distance where we are heading next. The leg burning climbs of the Himalayas Beckon, much to Amy's displeasure.

Day 22, 38km:

I was dreading today. 38km on an A road from one city to another. Chris already had his ear plugs ready for the horns. We were both pleasantly surprised to discover a beautiful cycle path cornered off from the road for the whole way! Someone was definitely looking out for us today. We cycled safely cocooned away from the trucks side by side arriving just after lunch to Baguo village at the base of Mount Emei Shan one of China's 4 holy mountains. Tomorrow we are planning on leaving the bikes here for a 2 day hike to the summit.

Day 21, Leshan Rest Day: (by Chris)

Today we visited the Grand Buddha, who is 71m high and has toes 8.5m long. This was good news because after three weeks of eardrum rupturingly loud horns and infuriatingly impatient Chinese drivers who think the horn is an excuse to drive like a tit, I needed a calming influence. I was hoping that if I was going to find any 'at-one-ness' i might have found it at the world's biggest Buddha. The day was indeed relaxing and although i think I'm a long way off enlightenment, i did find a huge fascinating centipede in a cave which excited the zoologist in me. Feeling lazy we rode a rickety rickshaw half way back to the hotel and the rest of the day was spent resting and reading.

Day 20, 110km:( by Amy)

Our early start was hampered by the fact I left the key from the hotel in my pocket. Chris took pity on me and cycled 2km back to return it.

The rest of the day was spent on beautiful country roads. Hardly any traffic weaving up and down little hills with rice paddies and satsuma trees. At one point a lady on a moped insisted on escorting us 10km to the next village which saved asking at every junction if we were going the right way. She also scrumped some satsuma's and insisted on giving us some! 

Me buying bananas and describing our trip with the use of the map and our printed Chinese explanation.

It ended up being another long day. Mainly because in the afternoon the road followed the bends of the river and was long. Also because they were reconstructing the closest bridge into Leshan so we had to go around. The dusk plus slow speed (because of the unsurfaced construction road) meant I got eaten by mosquitos and now my legs are very itchy.

: Lovely country road

Day 19, 78km:

Im not sure if traffic lights in China are a safety feature or a population reduction strategy. When they are green for straight on, it is also green for everyone turning left across your path. This means each intersection is a chaotic, horn serenaded dice with death. At one such junction cycling out of Chengdu, while we lined up with other targets such as tuktuks, tricycles and mopeds, we met a traffic police man. He pointed at my trailer and said 'this is dangerous!' - considering all the crazy things we witness daily on Chinese roads, not to mention the traffic lights, I instinctively laughed incredulously at him. Amy had to use all her charm to turn the situation around. We were released, and by the afternoon had finally left the city and found a quiet country road. Unfortunately we spent a lot of time searching for it amongst the orange mud of building sites as the Chinese government continue to plough up the pretty rice paddies and orchards to build massive roads and huge high rise buildings everywhere. We followed a river, which like most in China was brown and smelt of sewage, then cycled into some small hills where we were overcharged for a hotel room.

Day 16-18, Chengdu Rest Days;

The main reason for stopping in Chengdu is it has a world renowned breeding and conservation centre for pandas (both giant and red). Pandas were my favourite childhood animal and Chris being a zoologist was interested too. The Pandas were cool! Also as panda breeding season is spring there were lots of cute babies that had just grown fur and not so cute bald newborns in incubators.

We also met up with Zhang, a lovely lady who helped us get maps for China and is also a keen cyclist. She lives in Beijing but is from Chengdu and happened to be in the city. She spoilt us and showed us the city from a locals perspective, we went to Dofu's cottage (for those from Cardiff it was like a Chinese St Fagan's) and chilled out in a tea house. Then in the evening went with Zhang and her family to where people from Chengdu like to eat out. The restaurant was packed and the food was yummy (although we weren't brave enough for the spicy duck heads!).

Baby panda, just starting to grow fur

Cute baby pandas now with fur!

Day 15, 114km:

We tried to get off the busy big road this morning and found a lovely quiet back road through the countryside. 8km on we found out why it was quiet. The bridge over a wide river had been washed away. Rather than go back, I waded in and pushed the bicycles through the brown water which smelt slightly of sewage. Amy escaped wet feet by arranging a piggyback. It rained most of the day and we passed more collapsed bridges destroyed by the recent floods. Gravel tracks over concrete pipes had been built around the ruins. We rejoined the main road further south where we cycled past numerous 'government spy cameras' which flash and take pictures of all that pass. With the incentive of a rest day tomorrow, Amy wanted to try and reach Chengdu by the end of the day so she peddled as fast as her little aching legs would allow. After 114km we made it with 5minutes of daylight to spare. We now have three rest days to look forward to :-)

Day 14, 76km:

This morning our route passed through the ruined city of Beichuan.

 It was destroyed in a earthquake in May 2008. 7.9 on the Richter scale

 killing 70,000 people in the region. They have made the ruined city into

 a museum. Stabilising what is left of the buildings and putting placards

 in English and Chinese with photos and stories of people who were rescued. 

It was pretty eerie and felt a bit like a ghost town. One story about a

 little girl who loved ballet had been rescued from the buried middle 

school losing her legs in the process made me cry. 

 
In the afternoon we descended from the mountains, our small road 

turned into a newly built dual carriageway which thankfully had a cycle path. 
 
We made fantastic time as it was all downhill. We stopped at a guesthouse

 in a big town on the plains. I was taken (still in my grubby cycle gear)

 by the friendly hotel proprietor to the police station to register our stay,

 which basically involved photocopying our passports and visas.

Day 13, 52km:

I was up till past midnight pump filtering tap water for tomorrow as it is not considered safe to drink and needed to give our bicycles a good service in the morning so we had another late start. Unfortunately a car-load of police turned up while we were outside. None of the locals bothered us which was completely uncharacteristic and the hotel owners were hiding in the back rooms. We really hoped we hadn't got them into trouble for harbouring foreigners and made a quick get-away. Nothing much happened today. We cycled through some mountains, asked for directions from Chinese people, defected in some bushes and I accidentally ordered raw pigs ears on a bed of shredded carrot for dinner.

Day 12, 80km:

In the morning we followed another river downhill. 

We picked up supplies at a town crowded with teenagers as it was the first

day of school. 
After this we climbed another huge pass in the mist and drizzle.

 There was increasing evidence of landslides on the road. On the descent

 I was stopped by a guy on a motorbike saying we couldn't pass the road

 ahead and suggesting a huge 3 day detour. We said we would like to see

 if we could pass before turning around. He took some convincing but

 eventually let us move on. It turns out the worst floods in 50 years

 hit this area less than a month ago. Over the next ridge the descent

 down a spectacularly beautiful valley was marred by the fact big chunks

 of the mountain (and road) had simply been washed away. In places a river

 now crossed the road and you could see water marks on the first floor of

 the houses that hadn't been buried with sediment and rocks.
The road was passable (tracks had been created to bypass the missing bits)

. People were still so friendly, waving and saying hello as we passed.

 The town at the bottom was relatively unscathed although pretty deserted

 (we think most people were still evacuated). 

We stayed at a lovely little family run guesthouse and had dinner

 in their noodle bar.
 

Day 11, 60km:

I'd negotiated with the boss and secured a lie-in this morning so we had a late start, unfortunately this meant Amy was cycling in the midday sun, overheated and became dangerously grumpy. Amy gets grumpy if too hot, too hungry or too tired. Unfortunately, considering what we are doing there is an exceptionally high risk of all three. We negotiated several dimly lit tunnels roaring with engine noise and lined with dodgy lighting before reaching the next town where it was my turn to try and buy something vaguely edible for lunch. Miraculously, I found some decent bread so bought as much as would fit in our trailers. We tried to find a camp spot in the mountains today but failed because 1. The Chinese people could teach Gods a thing or two about bring omnipotent, 2. The Chinese people have built houses in an unbroken line along every road, 3. The Chinese people have planted crops on every square inch of flat land which doesn't have a building on it. We stayed at a guest house instead for £4, complete with clean sheets and plastic shower shoes which were, as always, too small for my feet which poked out of each end like hot-dogs in tiny buns.

Day 10: 85km

Most of the day today was spent on and undulating road that followed 

the river. The road split at a town where we asked for directions but

 there was some confusion about the road ahead and something about

 taking a boat. We used the translator and asked if we could cycle all

 the way to the big town on the other side of the water 

(as was shown on our map) and were told yes. We had a bad feeling 

something was amiss but the day was sunny and we set off along a tiny

 road perfect for cycling. 20km later the road split again. I stopped 

some teenagers on mopeds to ask for directions. It turns out both roads 

ended at the lake. This meant either going back the way we had come then

 taking a 2 day detour or chartering a local boat as there was no public

 service. The teenagers asked their friend (who ran the shop)  if he

 would take us in his "ship". We agreed on a price and cycled a couple

 of km down a muddy track with an entourage of teenagers on motorbikes.

 Then it was a steep footpath 50ft down a muddy bank to the shore. 

The teenagers offered to help carry the bikes but Chris delighted them

 by cycling off the edge trailer and all. The ship turned out to be a

 speed boat and we both climbed in with the help of our new young friends.

 The lake was huge and glassy calm. 30minutes later we were on the other side. 
 

Day 9, 71km:

Amy promptly crashed into a posh white car while cycling out of the town, although it wasn't her fault - he nosed out into the traffic from behind a parked car and she had nowhere to go and no time to stop. The driver was trying to blame Amy and wanted us to pay for the damage to his car. We politely told him where to go, but he pushed the issue so I hailed down a police car and he soon backed down. We were on the road again by 11:00. It was a fine sunny day as we claimed a steep small road to the top of a mountain pass and sailed down the other side past subsistence farms and small wooden houses with chillies and corn drying on their porches. That evening we stayed in a hotel again because Amy deserved a bit of luxury after getting run over earlier.

Day 8, 65km: (by Amy)

We had a bit of a late start as I had a puncture in my trailer.

 As we set off it started to rain and didn't stop until late

 afternoon. The gorge was very pretty but the road became an

 unpaved quagmire around the next town and we got coated in mud.

 After a while the road became paved again and we cruised slightly

 downhill alongside the river for most of the day. Just before

 we hit the main rd there was another set of roadworks diverting

 us onto an unpaved potholed bog. Unfortunately the trailer

 bouncing in the potholes pulled my back wheel off and bent my

 disc brake. Chris had to do some serious fixing at the junction

 and we attracted a huge crowd who I attempted to distract and

 entertain so Chris could fix my bike. Thank goodness for the

 translator which meant I could tell them where we were from

 and about our trip. With the bikes fixed we made it the 

of the way to Lueyang, Chris went to find a hotel while

 I washed the worst of the mud off the bikes so we'd be 

allowed to put them in the room. Chris came back having

 found a nice hotel but while we were taking our stuff in

 a member of the public said something to the proprietor

 and suddenly we were no longer allowed to stay. It turns out

 this hotel was not ok for foreigners. The apologetic proprietor

 took Chris to the reception of a posh hotel around the corner

. Chris (covered in mud) explained we would rather stay in the 

cheap hotel. This helped to significantly lower the price of the

 posh hotel but we were still made to stay there. I felt bad for

 the other hotel which was just as nice but since we got it for

 a bargain rate and there was a lift to take our stuff up we

 didn't really mind. We went for a wander round town that evening

 and ate some noodles that were so good we had 2 bowls each from a street food

vendor. 

Day 7, 76km: (by Chris)

Woke and departed early, running from the law. We left in such a hurry I didn't have time to use the bushes, so had to stop for poo in a public toilet where I was ambushed by thousands of Mosquitos and my buttocks and testicles paid a heavy price. We cycled through the green mountains past terraces cut into the hillsides for corn plantations.

 At the next town we made friends with the local bicycle shop who let us borrow their tools, gave us expensive red bull and re-planned our route for the next two days with their local knowledge.

 We cycled down a gravel track through a deep misty gorge in the rain and found an idyllic spot to camp in the bushes next to a waterfall but required titanic amounts of effort to get all our stuff up earthen banks and through thick shrubbery to the site.

Day 6, 45km:

Our departure was filmed by the hotel owners today: We were there first foreign

 guests ever! We took a lovely quiet road through a beautiful gorge valley.

 We then wound our way up a massive pass (4900ft) on the way we passed 3 trucks

 carrying wind turbine blades. A guy sat on the back swung the huge blade

 out to 90degrees to get it around the hairpin bends. Chris saw one misjudge

 it and plow the blade into the side of the mountain. Late that afternoon Chris

 found a camp spot down a disused and overgrown  electric pylon track, hidden

 but with lovely views over the valley. Unfortunately while we were hauling our

 stuff over a fence a police van drove past. Chris dove for cover but his trailer

 was on display on the wrong side of the fence. It was a long way to the next 

town so we sat and waited at the camp to see if anyone would came back.

 When they didn't after an hour we pitched camp and remained undisturbed.

Day 5, 86km:

The morning was spent going uphill for 10km and cursing the Chinese truck and bus drivers for using their ear-drum rupturing air-horns as a means of communicating 'Hahaha! look at you, you're weird-looking and riding strange trailer-bicycles and I think this is funny'. At the top curious Chinese people (that includes all Chinese people) swarmed around me asking questions I did not understand and taking photos of the strange, tall foreigner. The rest of the day was downhill to a small town where we stayed in a guesthouse. We were invited for dinner with the family next door. Amy was allowed rice and potatoes but I was told it was only for girls and made to eat horrible chilli-laden stew. Everyone thought Amy was very beautiful and wanted photos of her. I suggested we impose a small fee for each photo to raise money for our charities but Amy said this was inappropriate.