Bob's Blog

The Silk Roads

Abandoned Town

27th October 2014

Slept in late as I didn't sleep well in the tent. Easy day with decent tailwind. Not much along the way. Had sights set on a town on the map but when I arrived it seemed to have been deserted! And I was really looldng forward to a bowl of Laghman!

Desert Storm

28th October 2014

Wow. What a day. The hardest are always the greatest. I was eating sand all day, it was in my eyes, nose, ears and mouth. I couldn't sit still for two minutes without a layer of sand covering my bike and gear. I woke up in the random place I was staying at, the guy had gone out so I couldn't say goodbye. They were nice to me, gave me food and a want place to stay, I didn't really want to camp after another crummy nights sleep camping - I must get another another sleeping bag to keep warm!

The day was really overcast, I could see a dim light in the sky which I could easily stare at. I remember being caught in a sandstorm in the Sahara but that was at the end of only one day. I had 140km of it all day with a huge cross wind. I couldn't see more than 50 metres in front of me, on a narrow road with huge trucks ploughing down it every so often. It felt so isolated and claustrophobic, stuck in a storm miles away from anywhere.

I stopped at a small building half way through the day and the men seemed surprised to see me. They were sitting around a hot stove doing not a lot. I cooked some noodles and then made my way. They tried to convince me not to go out in the storm and said I could sleep there, they thought I was crazy. I said I'd be fine.

Cell Tower Camping

31st October 2014

After a two day rest at a nice business hotel - that's the only hotels there are - I was off again. The road was completely flat and the nothing but desert and mild rain. There was nowhere to camp, it was cold and everywhere was very exposed, I thought to camp underneath the road in one of the sand tunnels but it was so windy I decided to cycle on to a turn off in the road hoping for a building. Nothing, and I was cycling in the dark on a road with lots of trucks. Eventually I saw a cell phone tower and the gate was left open so that was my home for the night, at least some protection from wind. Had a warm night with my extra blanket I just bought.

Here Comes the Snow

1st November 2014

Out of the desert and back into the mountains! Pleased for the change of scenery, flat desert gets monotonous rather quickly. I had to climb up from 1000m to a 3000m plateau over a 3500m pass, so I stopped short today so I can do the pass in one day tomorrow. The road gently twisted and turned up the mountains, no steep zigzagging fortunately, just a very slow pace. Snow was appearing on every mountain and the parts of the road in shade were quite icy and degraded. Still quite a lot of trucks and they hurtle around the bends, not surprisingly I have seen quite a number that have plunged off the road.

Got to a small crop of buildings and the only restaurant was shut for some reason, so the mean lady begrudgingly gave me a pot noodle. Sleeping in a room with some engineers designing the railway route from Golmud to Korla, it will be quite a feat considering the mountains the tracks will have to navigate. It was nice to speak to someone who could speak some English and they gave me a decent feed! This guy was called Welbeck, as in the Man Utd player he said. He's a Arsenal man now I tell him! He kindly woke me at midnight for a chat after one too many whiskeys, keeping true to his Kazak heritage!

It was quite cold during the day, fingers getting to that bitting cold stage, though it was a bright and sunny day. Just went outside at nighttime, wearing my down jacket and it is absolutely freezing - not sure my extra blanket will do this high up and I'm only at 2500! The scenery up here in a small plateau between two mountain ranges is absolutely spectacular, I can't get a photo to do it justice.

Biting Cold

** 2nd November 2014**

Fff..ffff..freezing day. Had to climb up over the pass and it was slow going, the sun was out but was really cold in the shade and the wind chill had me chattering when I descended from the pass, had to put four layers on before I was warm. Then I had to stop every 20 mins as it was hotter then colder, so kept delayering and re-layering. Over the pass and it was back to desert scenery with the mountains peaks in the background, only now I am 2000m higher and it's a lot colder. Another short day distance wise but now I'm up high on a plateau of sorts I shouldn't have to do so much climbing for the next few days - I hope!

Police Pickup

3rd November 2014

Short flat day of desert to the first town in four days. When I arrived I tried to find a hotel but the lady would not budge from her obviously xenophobic price. I tried another hotel who did not accept foreigners at all, though she did help by calling the police! They were very nice, drove me to a cheaper hotel and got me a good price! All very amusing, the police acting as my official tourist guides. Though they did say not to take photos of the town. Happy to be in a town with lots of decent food readily available, first thing I did was to buy lots and lots of fruit and I found a shop that had porridge, yay!

Long Haul Trucker

10th November 2014

A three day stretch of 450km that a Chinese cyclist I met said took him 10 days! It was freezing cold, nothing much but desert and he camped every night. Not for me, I bashed it. There were intermittent patches of corn fields and sheep grazing and the closer to I got to Golmud the warmer it became. I saw some wild ox but they were too far away to get a decent picture.

The nights were really cold and as I wanted to finish it in three days I slept wherever I was when it was almost pitch black. It must have been minus 10 at night and one nights camping left all my water frozen solid, it even split one of my water bottles, so before I could cook my oats I had to defrost the solid ice. Needless to say breakfast took a while to come that day.