As we were eating dinner last night we could see a thunderstorm building up along the hills to the south of camp but thankfully all we got of it was some strong winds for half an hour. It also seems…
Cruising to camp (stage 15)
After I posted yesterdays blog I went for a wander round our local area and took a few additional photos: Back on the tarmac, and with just on 400km to our next rest day we’re splitting that over three days…
Shake, rattle and roll (stage 14)
Day two of off-road riding and it’s a shorter day, with fewer steep hills so I’m sure that people will be into camp in better time. Off with the sun and onto the first of the long steady climbs for…
Shaken not stirred (stage 13)
Today has been our first off-road day which has been great fun – nice to break up the tarmac with some gravel and dirt! A welcome change to our routine this morning – bags not required until 0600, the same…
That’s more like it (stage 12)
Last night’s dinner was somewhat comical when it came time to get the bill as we tried to split shares in a 263,000. The pile of notes at the end was huge! A chilly start this morning with -1 as…
This isn’t what I envisioned (stage 11)
Unfortunately camping wasn’t the best option, as there were also two dogs in the compound who didn’t really like us being there. The upshot was a spiral into no sleep – the dogs barked and woke the people, which meant…
Onwards towards Ulaanbaater (stage nine)
The day dawned clear, bright and calm – if a little chilly. After rider’s meeting and another great breakfast from the hotel we set off. As you can see below it was a pretty straight forward day ahead, with the…
Wind and rain and cold (stage eight)
So the rain started about midnight! This was far from a welcome development given that the wind was still blowing strongly across the desert. Knowing we had 146km to ride that day made it even less welcome! The theory went…
Welcome to Mongolia (stage seven)
In the end the border crossing proved to be relatively straight forward and something of a non-event. As planned all our bikes were loaded onto one bus, us and our bags onto the other, and off we went. To leave…
The most interesting thing in town and stage five
The most interesting thing in town…? Us…! Xianghaungyi is a pretty small city, and the clearly don’t see a lot of westerners – certainly not arriving 30 at a time and wandering round their streets in a mix of cycling…