Wow wee that was hard hard hard

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Wupwup we woke to a clear blue sky! Oh and what a difference it makes. Now we can appreciate the beauty around us.

Today was the toughest day I've ever experienced in my life! We started riding through local towns and villages. Before today I said to Anna how subdued China is. But today it came to life! It seems they chill at weekends so that's why nobody was about. We experienced gridlock in a market town and were given a line dancing performance by two locals. We saw locals trading chickens and fresh produce as well as locals cooking in the streets. Anna said how awesome it was because walking you feel vulnerable and in a vehicle you don't appreciate much. As a tourist you wouldn't really visit these parts anyway.

Then Anna joked: imagine if we had to climb those mountains! And guess what. We climbed the mountains. 11 miles of steep climbs! Stunning views but I really was beginning to wonder why I'd signed up. Every time your turned a corner you sighed as you peered ahead. The sun was beating down and it reached around 29 degrees. I had major shakes in the morning and had to stuff my face to try to recover.

Every time we had a water stop it was welcomed but hard to get going again. Anna said she wished she could eat sandwiches and chips. And her wishes were answered as we had sweet bread sandwiches on a picnic lunch and at our hotel they cooked chips when they ran out of sweet potatoe!

It seems yesterday I ate intestine so the rule from today is i'll only eat what I recognise as it was disgusting

Today most of the guides and doctors fell of their bikes and 20 ladies were asked to take the bus. So another indication of how tough this is!

And we do it all again tomorrow! We are sore!

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