Lanzhou to Xi'an, 10-16 July

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Thursday 10 July - Lanzhou to Dingxi, 106 km

Quite a hilly ride today, but quite cool and cloudy. We climbed to a tunnel, which we went through in groups with vehicle escort. We had our picnic at the tunnel exit, then descended to moderately hilly country for the rest of the day.
Harvest is in full swing here. Since the agriculture is in little fields and terraces most of the work is done by hand, though every possible kind of vehicle is used for transport. There is a lot of haymaking and stacking. Wheat is cut by hand with sickles and stacked in stooks. Threshing is either by rollers or by hand with flails, or sometimes the wheat is left in the road for the wheels of traffic to run over and separate the grains. Winnowing is also by hand. Hay and other crops such as peas (on the vine) are made into round stacks. We saw loads of cauliflowers being taken to market in this region, and of course the ubiquitous watermelons.
Tonight we are sleeping at a school. There is no playing field so we can’t put up tents. I set up my bed near a wall behind a little tree. Unfortunately at 3.30 am I was woken by drops of rain and hastily decamped to a sheltered balcony.

Friday 11 July - Dingxi to Huining, 61 km (404 m climb)

A cold grey morning with intermittent rain. Later in the afternoon it got hot. The landscape today was beautiful, terraced hills, the land cut up into fantastic shapes by deep ravines. At every level there were little fields - on top of buttes, deep in gorges, on terraces. A lot of maize is grown here.
There was a long climb to a col, not too difficult, then a descent to fairly flat roads. We entered the town over a bridge being rebuilt, which was a bit hard to negotiate. We are in a reasonable hotel. Lunch was at the hotel, noodles and vegetables, very nice,
We went out to visit a pagoda and museum commemorating the end of The Long March in 1937. In the garden of the complex were loads of beautiful hollyhocks - these grow everywhere here in a huge variety of colours and shapes.

Saturday 12 July - Huining to Jining, 80 km (602 m climb)

A cold grey day, but only a little rain in the afternoon. We climbed to a col and another tunnel - this one was better lit and better surfaced than the last one. All day we had the same beautiful landscape, and peasants doing farming by what are basically medieval methods. We had a group of local cyclists with us on the latter part of the ride.
Our “bivouac” was once again in a large school where we were surrounded by hundreds of people. There was some sort of ceremony but I kept out of the way. Played a couple of games of chess. Lost, even after my opponent gave me 3 pieces. One of our Chinese friends came round with a 50-year-old motorbike and sidecar and some of us had rides round the school playing field. I had a ride on the pillion, it was fun. Peter Dreesen was driving; one of the other men also had a go, but he nearly overturned on the curves. The playing field is, of course, bare clay, grass is a luxury item here.
Dinner was boiled potatoes and tinned rations - I had a tin of beans. We are allowed to sleep in the school corridors, but I am in a classroom with 7 other people. The toilets are, of course, outside in a malodorous block.

Sunday 13 July - Jining to Pien Lang, 108 km with a tunnel

Another cool grey day with rain in the afternoon. There was, as usual, a long climb up to the tunnel. There was a second tunnel, shorter but worse lit and surfaced, which they had not told us about.
In the morning we went through a long valley full of polythene tunnels - miles of them - all with crops growing, and little areas of crops growing between them, mostly maize. We remain at high altitude, and the countryside is very green indicating a lot of rain. In the tunnels they grow peppers, tomatoes, watermelons, pumpkins etc. Note: watermelons are not melons at all, the plants are quite different.
All along the sides of the road there were hollyhocks, red, pink and white, some double - beautiful. In a few places they had been eaten by goats, of which there were quite a lot. Unfortunately none of the hollyhocks had yet made any seeds so I could not collect any for my garden.
It rained hard all afternoon and evening. On the way into town I had a puncture (11th) and they quickly put me and my bike in the blue van to get to the hotel. I went down and changed the inner tube later - back wheel, very awkward, fortunately Christian Roche came along and helped me. There was a big piece of glass in the tyre - there is a lot of glass on the roads here.

Monday 14 July - Pien Lang to Qian Yang, 145 km (900 m climb)

Once again cool and grey, with rain in the afternoon. The road out of town was fine, but after 20 km we turned off onto a minor road and had 30 km of rough stony muddy track. This climbed up to a col and down again, then we re-joined a good road.
We went through a tunnel at low level and expected lunch soon after, but there was a second tunnel and no sign of lunch. The road was not difficult, but it was raining and we didn’t know how far till the stop. Finally we found lunch was in Longxian, at 106 km. Everyone was tired and hungry. We ate in a small café, big bowls of noodles with vegetables and a few bits of meat (which I was able to pick out). I had two eggs saved from breakfast and ate these with my noodles. I bought a couple of apricots from a stall for dessert. We were told that there were another 40 km to do - the planned distance for this day had been 125,
The last 40km were not hard - mostly downhill with a few bumps, and the rain diminished, and finally stopped in the evening. After dinner most of us were out around the town. There were some shops and bakeries and a fruit market. There were crowds of children asking us to take photos and sign autographs.

Tuesday 15 July - Qian Yan to Fufong, 94 km (850 m climb)

Once again it was cool and grey, with rain in the afternoon. There were two quite long climbs in the morning, I walked some of the first one, which was quite steep on a minor road. After that we went onto a better road which climbed gradually round a lake, very pretty.
At Fufong - which was to be our last bivouac - we were directed into a big space with a new building at one end. We afterwards learnt that it was a new bus station. There was a banner and stage set up, and a big drum band playing to welcome us. The lorries were not there - they had been delayed by a minor accident.
Two of our group leaders did the honours of the welcome ceremony so that the show could go on. There were young boys - and a girl - displaying martial arts exercises, and a bit of Chinese Opera with fantastic costumes, and a ladies’ group dancing with fans.
I had been told that there was an important Buddhist temple (the Famen Temple) near Fufong so 4 of us got together and with the aid of a young Chinese girl found a vehicle to take us there. It was about 10 km and we paid 20 yuan. The temple was a big complex with a monastery and a pagoda. At the other end of the village was a huge four-sided Buddha statue. Paul and I went up inside the statue to the top (153 steps). There was not a lot to see, but a good view of the temple. Then we had a drink and then found a minibus to take us back. We offered the driver 20 yuan, and he seemed happy, but a lot of other people got on and off along the way and didn’t appear to pay, so I think we paid for the whole bus. Still, it cost us each 10 yuan, or one euro, there and back - hardly dear!
The Famen village street was lined with an incredible number of pool tables, most with young lads playing. This seems very popular, there are outdoor pool tables in most towns and villages.
When we got back the lorries had arrived so we got out our beds and bags and set up home in the bus station while the cooking party prepared a special meal for our last bivouac and to celebrate 14 Juillet (Bastille Day) a day late. They gave us an aperitif of fruit juice and Chinese spirit (I forget he name, but it’s foul) with peanuts and watermelon cubes on sticks, and the meal was couscous with vegetables and kebabs. They did me 2 vegetable kebabs specially, how nice. Afterwards there were fireworks and a bonfire. All this took place under the eyes of a great number of the local population who came to see the fun.

Wednesday 16 July - Fufong to X’ian, 114 km

We set out late today. Breakfast was at 8, then after the lorries were loaded we spent a long time doing photographs of the whole group and the various teams.
There were a lot of villages on the road today, all busy with markets and traffic. The last 30 km were all built up, one town running into another. We were met by a group of local cyclists who accompanied us into town. There was a long ride into Xi’an along cycle lanes, tree-lined though today we didn’t need shade as it was cloudy.
We arrived about 5.30 and dinner was at 7, so there was time for a beer wih the others in the lobby before going to find my room. I have arranged a single room for this two-day rest in Xi’an. Dinner was OK, but the amount was not generous. The room is fine.

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