Garry McGivern Travelsonabike2 is cycle touring in China on Friday, 19th-October-2012. Shanshan to in a storm drain at the top of some mountain pass! 86 miles. What a hard day, been going uphill most of the day and going against a gale! The day started off okay, going uphill but not too bad, but it just kept going.
After going uphill for a few hours I then came across a sign that said uphill for the next 14km. I got to the top of that and then there was another one saying uphill for another 14km. Got to the top of that, and the wind had now picked up which made it so much harder. I then came across another sign, only this time it said uphill for 24km! After I’d done about 24km I was waiting for it to either go downhill or at least level off, but it just kept climbing. With no sign of a town I started to look for somewhere to camp, but with barbed wire all along the side of the road it was pretty hard, the odd time there was a gap it was either all rocks or loads of rubbish!
It was now starting to get dark and the wind was still blowing a gale, it was very difficult to find a place to camp now it was so dark, it was now gone 9 o’clock and the wind got so strong I had a job standing up in it! I had to stop anywhere just to get out of this howling wind! A storm drain was the only option, it was still very windy, but it was a bit of shelter!
Couldn’t pitch my tent on the concrete floor, even though it is free-standing. It was just too windy! Tried to make a windbreak as best I could with my panniers, got loads of layers on and trying and stay as warm as possible.
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