This week’s on this day post comes from the 21st-October-2012, and I’m in China nearing the end of my world tour, wondering where I should finish. I’d also had trouble finding accommodation, and I’d been camping wild on and off for several days. And tonight was another wild camp, although it’s not ideal camping conditions.
Sunday 21st October 2012 – Hami to a Wild Camp By The Side of The Road 77 Miles.
I didn’t leave the hotel until ten o’clock this morning. I was in two minds about whether to stay another night. But with no internet, I couldn’t see any point, apart from being lazy, and we can’t have that, can we?
I was hoping to cover 115 miles today and reach the next town for tonight. But that was a bit too optimistic, especially leaving at ten o’clock. I think I may have been able to make it, but it would have meant arriving late and in the dark! And I didn’t even know if there were any hotels there. So I opted to camp after spotting a gap in the barbed wire that runs beside the road. It’s not a very good campsite. The surface is just dust and gravel, not a lot for the tent pegs to get a grip on. So I found some rocks to put on the pegs, which will be fine as long as the wind doesn’t get up!
I’m still undecided about where I’m going to finish. I seem to change my mind daily! Today it’s Shanghai. Yesterday it was Beijing or Kunming. But I think it might be too late in the year to cycle to Beijing. I think there could be a fair amount of snow around. Kunming would be my preferred finishing point, as that’s where I started the Southern Asian leg of my ride. But I think they might have just as much snow there. Hence today, my finish point is Shanghai, even though I don’t know what weather they have!
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