Day 64

We left the hotel as a group today because of expected road works and road closures early on and Kevin wanted to make sure we all got through before splitting up and riding our own rides.

As it was, we got through quite easily so once through Kevin waved us on to do our own thing.

The days scenery was varied starting with the green forests, then going on to sandy rock before finishing with some great mountain roads where one pass had 72 hair pin bends!

 

We also had a water crossing today which although not deep, it was very fast running water but thankfully everyone crossed OK.

The altitude is really getting to me now as I am struggling for breath a lot, even just taking a photo and getting back on the bike is taking it out of me.

Day 63

It was a short mileage day today, but in previous trips this had been a tough day in muddy conditions with vehicles meeting each other head on around narrow corners so the smallest usually has to back up to let the larger vehicle through.

However, a new road, complete with new tunnels to replace those dodgy narrow corners has been built since the last trip in 2015 so all this is a thing of the past. Although it is a good thing, I can’t help thinking that some of that amazing experience has been lost, but then I am looking at this through the eyes of an adventurer and I am sure most tourists and locals would welcome the new infrastructure.

One of the photo stops that I was looking from a viewpoint over the Lulang Forests, but to get to this viewpoint involved quite a few steps and at this altitude my lungs told me the view was not worth it, but I did proceed to get the photo anyway.

As you can see bridges were the theme of the day, and one of the photos shows three bridges, with an old foot bridge, then the previous road bridge that was in use on previous trips followed by the new bridge which we rode over today.

As the day progressed, the photo stops got fewer although I did stop quite a few times to rest my eyes as I was feeling very tired for some reason today and struggled at times to keep awake whilst riding.

Day 62

The day started with some rain which was thankfully a lot lighter than we had during the night storm.

We encountered roadworks early on when just getting out of town. There was one section where the road was under water so when I got close I stopped to access the situation by watching other vehicles go through, but some of the crazy drivers in there 4x4 pickups didn’t seem to take much care. Once the area was relatively clear and the car in front had gone right through I proceeded down to the water which after a couple of feet my front wheel dropped down and at that point I thought I am committed now so have just got to keep the power on and get through which I done without any problems.

The road works continued out of town and on the Tibet- Sichuan Highway until late morning, with lots of deep holes full of muddy water, so much for my clean bike I started out with. 

As we climbed the pass the fresh snow lying around made for a nice photo stop as did the top of the pass where there where two statues of Yaks just waiting for their photo to be taken.

Eventually the day got brighter and the temperature warmer and the scenery far greener than western Tibet.

We also have another animal to watch out for roaming the highways now, and that is black pigs!