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.