25/6/25
We drank our morning coffee and read of our friend Quinn’s adventures in China the previous year. He’d reached his goal of Nordkapp. An impressive feat of 30k kilometres in 509 days. He was having a hard time getting back down to Oslo as he didn’t fancy anymore cycling. As we left the friendly woman gave us a big bag of peaches and tried to give us milk based drinks. We felt compelled to start practicing more Chinese.
It was an easy 5km back to where we’d turned off. Swallows swooped around us. Then we started a ten mile long hill. Over 800m of climbing. It began gently. We passed farm houses and many different colour chickens. Extremely quiet with only the odd lorry and an occasional car. The Sun peaked out occasionally making it feel hot. We were glad of the clouds. Every last piece of usable ground was made into farmland. Even the cliff itself was constantly under attack to make space for new houses. Living underneath seemed precarious to us. Multiple remnants of landslides were visible in the gulleys along the road.
At the turning to Kedu we took a break. Had we opted for a steeper climb for the first 4km we’d have emerged there. We ate peaches as an older man came over and made sounds to indicate his awe of us. We felt like cartoon characters as flies buzzed around us constantly. We weren’t moving fast enough for them to be deterred. At 2300m we found an active logging operation. A large digger blocked the road, they paused to let us past and we stopped to enjoy an incredible vista.
The hill continued relentlessly. Ten miles is a very long way at 4%. After riding for more than two hours we only covered 18km. At 2400m we joined a busier road. We were on the G248, now we had combined with the S102 there was more traffic. Presumably it connected to a highway or something. We still had another 100m of elevation until we went slightly downhill. The true top was actually another 200m higher . Up until now the wildlife had been a glorious chorus of birds. Now we weren’t under the cover of the trees the noises had subsided.
The first summit was at 2500m. We mashed back some UPF/MSG infused tofu snacks. Hopefully the extra sodium was a good thing. After another little climb we arrived on the second summit. This time we raced down slightly longer. The gradient had become irrelevant. Our legs just wanted a break, not a climb to another summit.
Their “break” came in the form of a lengthy 20km descent. It was glorious. We were crossing from one valley into another. At the bottom we reached the town of Tangdian. Big open streets. It felt unfinished. We bought some weird UPF snacks, including a persimmon ice cream and a pepsi. We considered staying for the night, but decided to push on towards the ‘Red Lands’. A famed area of beautiful terraced fields, stained with the red pigment of the soil.
The valley was intermittently hot. There was definitely a reason they had so many greenhouses here. The road was fast and full of annoying speed bumps. The cars didn’t slow down for them at all. It was only us that found them annoying. Something odd was going on with the roads. We were meant to be on the G248. But instead we were on the S101. It looked like the G road ran through the villages to our right. Reorganisation was occurring.
Finally we left the S101, crossed the canalised river we’d been following, and joined the G248. A narrow road, covered in red dust, leading to the red lands. First a slight gradient, then began our final climb of the day. It was more than enough to polish off our legs for the day. Fortunately, the views were incredible. We slowly wound up through the fields. Every last bit of land was planted. We couldn’t believe this was the main road to the viewing spots. It was far too quiet.
The climb turned into a struggle. It wasn’t the hardest climb by any stretch, just the end of an already long day. Second climbs were always difficult. Beautiful views surrounded us. Not like the photos we’d seen though. They’d obviously been heavily edited. Still, a stunning landscape. Completely man made, apart from the mountains and soil of course. New tarmac and rainbow markings greeted us as we approached the mini city of hotels. There were a lot of accommodations listed on trip.com. It started to rain so we rushed around only to find two closed hotels. Our third choice, and most expensive, was open.
An old woman chased after us from an attached restaurant. We pleaded with her to “talk to our phone”. As always, the old woman stared at us bewildered. A younger woman came out and happily let us translate her. Bikes tucked inside just as it started to pour with rain. We ended up with a nice room. A useless projector but also a big television. Overlooking a section of the famous red lands. After such a long day we couldn’t feel more happy.
We came down to the restaurant for dinner. It was almost 7pm. Late for us. The woman happily prepared us a vegan feast. Mushrooms, greens, noodles and when we asked twice, some tofu. Some other parties arrived to eat. They had feasts prepared for them. The woman brought out potatoes to them to huge fanfare. Then she brought us one each too. What a treat. It was an expensive meal, on top of an expensive room. We paid almost £40 all in.
They gifted us some bananas that we took up to our room and snacked on with our nuts, chocolate peanut balls and raisins. We watched Forever and Amandaland. All the while it was still pouring with rain outside. We’d been contemplating camping again. The temperature was bearable, but monsoon season gave rise to heavy rain most nights. It would be far from comfortable. For now we remained tied to hotels. Fortuitously, there is far from a shortage in China.
Surly They Won't Make It 