Surly They Won't Make It

1/7/25

We were well known in the breakfast room by the third day. The chef knew not to contaminate our noodles with meat broth. Jonathan wasn’t feeling 100%. He was sure he was a little ill. Frankie had an odd pain in her kidneys. Still, we funnelled down as much food as we could. Then retrieved our bikes from the back office. We set off, immediately deceived by an easy downhill that lasted several kilometres. 

We were soon brought back to Earth. It was a struggle to get moving. We crossed the Jinsha River on the baby bridge. The new expressway would use the daddy bridge that was still under construction. The G248 took us up a long steep uphill. First passing through a busy construction site. We’d hoped that it would be composed of more tunnels, less hills. We got to the tunnels eventually. Even then, the gradually uphill tunnels were hard work. False flats. Then, we lost all our hard earned elevation and zoomed downhill. The glorious Heishui River flowed beside us. We were surrounded by imposing verdant landscapes. Birdsong welcomed us as we raced down for miles, occasionally utilising a much needed tunnel.

The next long hill led up to Ningnan. It was intensely sunny. The newly built, wide street made it a slog. The entire city appeared to be new. We couldn’t help but feel that they were building paradise. Parades of trees. Wide pavements. Modern crossings. We went to a swanky coffee shop. As luck would have it they sold Oatly. We ordered two lattes. 

After waiting a while we went over to see what was taking so long. The poor girl had made one impeccable looking coffee. She couldn’t create the same high quality barista art, so had made two more in vain. We insisted it was fine and she gave us the two extra coffees. We ended up with four coffees. She was a perfectionist and brought over another perfect one. 

We definitely couldn’t stay in Ningnan. We were buzzing. We left via another incredible descent, soon arriving at Kaidi Lila hot springs. The entrance suggested it was a huge resort, more akin to a theme park than anything else. We didn’t go in. We careered through a tunnel, then flew downhill into an incredible valley, flanked by huge peaks. At the bottom we started undulating alongside the river. The wind was driving through the valley behind us. All the banana trees had leaves that were split. On the other side of the river the construction of a new expressway was underway. We got a first hand look at how it was done.

The heat was intense again. We stopped for an electrolyte drink. While we rested under the gazebo a woman spoke to us. Her English was broken but we have come to expect very little and appreciate any knowledge of our language. Everyone was so unbelievably welcoming.

We had no major climbs left. Our road was gently climbing for the foreseeable future. We rode alongside a beautiful, gurgling red river. There were tourist signs indicating that the corridor was known as ‘1000 acres of agriculture’ or something.  There was a little traffic. It was plenty good enough for cycling. Everyone was respectful to us anyway. People waved and tooted. Scooter riders would look back several times.

The town of Songxin looked brand new. All the buildings were uniform. It was set in an incredible landscape. After another small incline we rode even closer to the red rapids. The day grew long and us tired. We carried on going two metres up for every metre we went down. The Sun became less intense. We passed through a very dusty tunnel. We should have put masks on. On the other side we saw more enormous highway building occurring. It was still dwarfed by the mountains. We stopped for more fluids.

We were keen to finish the day now. Puge had been our original choice but only now did we realise it was another 150m of climbing. We found a hotel only a short way up the hill. It was Sod’s Law. The road had been stripped back to the dirt. They never closed the roads. It just made for slow going. 

The young hotel receptionist spoke excellent English. “How can I help you?” She asked as we tried to bring up the translation app. It made life very easy. The bicycles went in their kitchen. We washed our filthy, sweaty and dusty clothes. There were no restaurants They Made us a mighty meal. Tofu, shredded potato, cucumber and lettuce and rice. We saved the leftovers for breakfast. Room was comfortable and new. The work outside continued late. Watched suspicion and We finished the accountant . Ate a bottle of ‘canned fruit’.