Zhangye to Lanzhou 3-9 July

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Thursday 3 July - Zhanghye to Shandan, 63 km

A horrible day. It rained in the morning, not hard but enough to put a rain jacket on. The countryside was mostly desert, the road was good and flat. We arrived at the outskirts of the town and were directed into a building site which should have been our campsite. After a long wait we moved into a gym alongside, which was quite fortunate as there was a lot more rain in the afternoon and evening.
Lunch was a picnic at our own tables and stools - I ate my own food. Set up my bed in the gym and just lolled around bored. Read a bit, played 2 games of chess with Christian Roche, lost both although he gave me 3 pieces in the second.
Dinner was egg salad, very good, followed by tinned rations. Lionel and some of the Red team have taken over the catering and it is very good. They let me have a second salad instead of the rations. There was red wine paid for by Jean-Marie Zimmerman to celebrate the release of Ingrid Betancourt who had been imprisoned in Colombia for 6 years. Jean-Marie was on a committee working for her release.

Friday 4 July - Shandan to Yonchang, 117 km and 850m climb

A cool cloudy morning, but no further rain. A very long climb all morning, but then a magnificent 16 km descent to the lunch stop in a farmyard. The villagers all gathered round to watch us and a lot of photos were taken. A couple of bits were taken from the bikes, which was unfortunate. The descent continued, with a tail wind, most of the afternoon.
After the usual re-grouping outside town we were led to an impressive-looking hotel. The room I am sharing with Francoise is not very good, though - no wardrobe, no key (the floor girl has to come and lock and unlock the door) and very poor towels. The doctor brought the scales out again today. I have lost another kilo - down to 46 kg - unbelievable, I eat so much since we have been in China.
In the evening I went out for a walk and came on a crowd of people with a man drumming and another playing cymbals. A lot of middle-aged ladies were walking determinedly round waving fans and scarves. I think it was a keep-fit session. I met up with Emilio who went and asked the price of an electric three-wheeler at a shop. It was 3500 yuan - about 350 euros. Incredible.

Saturday 5 July - Yongchang to Wuwei, 72 km

The downhill trend continued, and today’s was an easy ride. We arrived at the hotel before 12 noon. I have a room to myself, bliss. Charged the phone and camera, transferred some photos, etc. Went out and actually found some yoghurt in one shop, but nothing else interesting. I saw Karl and Claudia cleaning up Karl’s bike, he is back cycling tomorrow after being off for a long time.
At dinner time Patrick fell on the stairs and dislocated his shoulder. The two doctors put it back, but he will have his arm in a sling and not cycle for some days.

Sunday 6 July - Wuwei to Gulang, 65 km

We had the morning off as today’s was a short ride. Not a good idea as we were cycling in the hottest hours of the day. I went out in the morning and took some photos, including what appears to be a new temple and pagoda - the temple is only half painted.
We are in a supposed bivouac tonight - in fact we are at a big boarding school where all the pupils crowded round and stared at us all evening, together with some of the locals.
Liliane and I put up a tent on the playing field so as to have some privacy. Liliane put up the little inner tent at one end, I put up my bed at the other end. It was a very windy night and I kept waking up with the tent flapping about and threatening o blow away, but it was OK.

Monday 7 July - Gulang to Tianzhu, 80 km and a col at 2900m

This was not a bad day. It started out windy, as the night, but fortunately the wind soon dropped. We passed through several villages and lots of agricultural land. The countryside is now rolling hills, terraced with little fields full of crops. There are lots of streams and irrigation channels. In one valley there was an enormous array of their typical greenhouses - it must have stretched for over a km.
We met some of the Balticycle group on the road aaain. I talked to a Lithuanian cyclist; they are going further than us today, but will be at Lanzhou the same day as us.
We had lunch at the hotel but it was our own rations - I didn’t eat their tinned stuff but had my own bread and cheese. After the usual shower and washing I went out to explore the town, but it is very small. I got some drinks and biscuits in a supermarket. On the way back had a beer with some of the others at a café outside the hotel.

Tuesday 8 July - Tianzhu to Lanzhou, 156 km and descent of 900m

A long hot day, but not too hard because there was a lot of flat and downhill road. Some 40 km out from Lanzhou we were met by some local cyclists who took us first to a big new university campus, where we were entertained with firecrackers to welcome us and fed lots of nice juicy watermelon. Then we continued to the town.
The route for about 30 km was along the Yellow River cycle path, an excellent two-way cycle path beside the autoroute. There were ladies sweeping the autoroute; they take great care of the roads here and every day we see people sweeping, weeding and tidying up the edges. The Yellow River is a big fast-flowing river but it’s not yellow. It is sort of orangey-brown - perhaps tan is the right colour.
We crossed the river and rode through the long narrow town on the other side. It is a big town with lots of modern tall buildings and heavy traffic. The hotel is near the railway station and is quite modern and efficient.
In the evening I went out with five of the guys by taxi to a pizza restaurant. We had pizzas and red wine and real coffee - it was great. The total bill came to about 10 euros per person - bargain. The taxi there (and the taxi back) cost about 11 euros for 3 people.

Wednesday 9 July - Lanzhou

After a not very good breakfast - I got there late - I went out to check the Post Office (very nearby) and got some money from a bank machine. Then I fetched two bags of clothes and shoes and things and took them to the Post Office and sent them home. Fortunately Linzhao (the younger of our two Chinese cyclists) was at the Post Office and helped me out. They provided a big box to put the stuff in, taped it up for me, I put the address on and they weighed it and gave me a customs declaration to fill in. It came to about 30 euros - a lot less than I would pay as excess baggage when I fly home, and of course I shan’t be carrying all my winter clothes around with me.
Lunch was at a café next to the hotel, noodles with vegetables, hardly any meat to pick out. It was interesting eating spaghetti with chopsticks. I did some shopping for bread and drinks - bivouac tomorrow.
About 6 pm I walked down to Boton Coffee - recommended in the Lonely Planet guidebook - and had a latte and some pancakes with fruit. Very nice. Then I decided to walk on to the city centre - bad mistake. It took me 2 hours - it didn’t look so far on the guidebook map!
The centre is great at night - all the streets become markets, with stalls lining both sides and on the pavements. The traffic has a job getting through. In non-market areas the traffic is horrendous, crossing the road is an adventure every time, I make sure I cross with a crowd of locals. Although there are traffic lights these are often ignored, especially by taxis who go all over the place.
I got a taxi back to Boton Coffee and had a late dinner. There were some more of our group there too. I had a fruit salad and a pizza - it took some time to explain I wanted one without meat. My little piece of paper that says “I am a vegetarian” in Chinese was useful again. Then another taxi back to the hotel - 7 yuan, less than a euro. Slept like a log.

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Photos

Greenhouse
Wall one side, plastic the other, straw mats to shade

Greenhouse end view
with interior and owner