Charlie's blog:​
Leaving Chengdu we hopped on a coach across the basin (where the driver was quite taken with us and asked us to sit up front with him, which actually consisted of 1 seat and a tiny cubby hole behind the gear stick where Lou sat!). All refreshed from our stay in Chengdu and coming down from the Tibetan plateau I was very much looking forward to some easier cycling... not a lot to ask, some nice flat roads, beautiful scenery. Well we got the beautiful scenery but it came at a hilly price. Welcome to rice field territory!
 
Straight away we were surrounded by rolling hills, they were short but incredibly steep. It had been a while since I'd had to get off my bike and push but these hills were on a whole other level! With every step it took all my strength not to roll backwards all the way down the hill!
 
Despite the absolutely beautiful scenery in rural China my spirits were low and I was absolutely hating the hills. It was constant for a few days and it really got to me, not going to lie, there were tears, and one day in particular was extremely tough and I really just didn't want to cycle anymore. The good thing about cycling in a pair is that on your bad days you have the other person to fall back on. Along with the hills, it was getting more and more difficult to find places to camp as every single spare patch of group is cultivated and used for growing crops. This particularly bad day we stopped in a village and started asking the locals is there was anywhere we could camp. We had been using Google Translate very successfully to communicate but in this village a lot of the locals couldn't read. Thanks to Lou we found this lovely family who offered to let us stay with them that night. The daughter worked in the next town and was so kind to us, they gave us food and the granddad was very pleased to point out the English subtitles they had on their TV:)
 
Cycle paths and highways
On the Biking to China Whatsapp group someone posted about an amazing 140km cycle path along a river from Chishui to Guizhou. Not sure what to expect, an actual paved red cycle lane was more than I could have hoped for! It was 140km of pure bliss, gorgeous cycling with a river on the right and bamboo forests on the left. We had two days of taking photos and speeding along not having to worry about cars or hills or getting lost :) We also had one of our more unusual camping spots, after cycling a couple of km with a local Chinese girl who caught us up on her bike (she was a teacher and cycled to and from work along this path and very much enjoyed taking selfish with us!) she showed us to a hotel and the very nice lady there let us set up our tent on the balcony overlooking the river! 
 
One of the most exciting things at this point of our trip was that our little GPS dot on Google maps and Hong Kong could actually fit on the same screen! After how far we had come it was so exciting to see us and our destination so close.
 
However China had a few other challenges to throw at us before we got to Hong Kong.
 
The first being the highway police. There are two types of roads on China, the well built, straight, flat highways and the low roads, which are more windy, going up and down hills, oh yes and they have the tendancy to not to be built yet.
 
Technically bikes aren't allowed on Chinese highways and there are toll booths at all the entrances. However it's not too difficult to sneak past them onto the road, just a friendly smile and and wave and we only got stopped by the toll booth workers once. We used the highways when we got fed up with the long hilly low roads and just needed some time cycling on the flat and racking up some miles. 
Although they are highways hardly any cars were on them and they have a huge hard shoulder to cycle on so we felt pretty safe on them (especially compared to the cars who speed down the low roads with no hard shoulder!) 
The only thing with the highways were that the tended to have a lot of tunnels, most of the time they were well lit and one way so it was fine but occasionally the lights would go out half way and we would be left with our little bike lights to navigate with. It was quite scary especially when the tunnel is 5km long!  
 
We had had varying success on the highways, although we got through the tolls alright we would usually be stopped at some point by the highway police, once we got on a highway the trick would be to cycle as far as possible before the highway patrol caught up, feigning ignorance that bikes werent allowed on these roads, tryibg to convince them to let us stay and inevitably being escorted to the next exit.
 
Sometime's we were caught the same morning, other times we would have a good couple of days on the highway, it varied.
 
We had been hopping on and off the highways pretty successfully for a few days when we were hit with one of the most frustrating, exhausting and tear filled days of the whole trip. 
 
We set off nice and early but hadn't been going 10 minutes before the police caught us, damn. But it was fine, we got off at the next exit only to realise that we would have to go in a huge circle literally back to the hotel in order to get to the low road!!! We arrived back exactly where we started at midday and was already crying tears of frustration. But it was only going to get worse.
 
We set off again only to find 7km later that the low road hadn't actually been built yet! It led to 20km of hell. Cycling through mud, rocks, hills and excavators digging up the path making it impossible to cycle. Having tp push my heavy bike though the mud was such hard going, I pretty much cried the whole way. After many many frustrating hours we made it to the next town just as it got dark and we treated ourselves to a hotel with free breakfast (where I filled my pockets with boiled eggs for the next few days!). 
 
We decided that we were far enough away from the last police crew to try our luck on the highway again. And the universe must have felt sorry for us as we found a hole in the fence to clamber through so we avoided the toll booths and got nearly 2 days on this highway!
 
By this point we were well on our way to Hong Kong with just one more big stop before we reached our final destination.
 
Oreo Pancakes for Breakfast:)
A few days later we cycled into the fascinating city of Guilin. This has been on our must see list since we started planning the trip and it defiantly lived up to expectations.
After checking in to a lovely hostel and enjoying one of the most delicious breakfasts of oreo pancakes and tea we spent a day exploring the river Li on a bamboo raft (which was neither bamboo or a raft!!). We also visited ShangriLa, fed a water buffalo and learnt about the local history.
 
It was absolutely beautiful and I really enjoyed the two days we had cycling around that area. However I didn't get to make the most of it as on thh way to Yangshou I was hit with my second migraine of the trip. Luckily we were only 7km from our bed for the night so after a rest for my vision to clear, we made it to Yangshou and i slept for the rest of the day and the night. It was a shame to miss Yangshui but my migraines really do knock me out.
 
Migraine passed, we left Yangshou and started on the final stretch, in one week we would be in Hong Kong! It was kinda hard to believe, after all this time Hong Kong was only a week away! 
 
We followed another gorgeous river path and started to feel a marked improvement in the temperature.  In just a couple of days we went from thermals, fleeces and coats to shorts and t-shirts! I was wary at first, not willing to take my layers off thinking that as soon as I did the weather would turn but it just got warmer and warmer. We didn't think we'd get to cycle in t-shirts again this trip, it was so nice to be finishing in the warm.
 
My other favourite thing, along with the warm weather, was that the bauhinia flowers were in bloom all along the roadsides. This is the national flower of Hong Kong and I have very vivid memories of the bauhinia tree in our garden in Hong Lok Yuen.

So we made it into the absolutely huge city of Guangdong. This place is massive, at least 200km across, and Hong Kong was on the other side. 
 
After a bit of googling and a chat with some cyclists going the other way we found out that the only way to get into Hong Kong is by metro or boat. You can't cross on the roads. We think this is because it used to be a British colony and so, unlike the rest of China, Hong Kong locals drive on the left. That did cause a bit of a problem for us, bikes aren’t allowed on the metro and we were yet to find a definitive answer about whether they could be put on a ferry, so how were we going to get our bikes into Hong Kong?
 
We decided to head for Macau anyway and hope that it would be a yes, especially if we told them our whole story and how close to our final destination we were. Fortunately that was not necessary and bikes are totally allowed on ferries. We did miss our appointed boat due to some unexpected stairs but the nice people switched us over to the next one.
And that was it, we were on our way to Hong Kong!
 
Now, I am not great with ferries and sea sickness so this was not my ideal entrance into the country I’ve not been in for 18 years. I arrived feeling very queasy and unsteady on my feet but after a couple of moments that was replaced by butterflies and excitedness. We were in Hong Kong! HONG KONG! Actual, real life, Hong Kong!
 
It had been 7 and a half months, 13 countries and 12,060km!
 
Once off the boat we cycled (on the left for the first time since we left England!) along the prom looking at the iconic skyline including our favourite building (the Bank of China obvs). It was December 22nd and all of the skyscrapers were lit up with Christmas messages and lights. It was so beautifulJ We made it to our hostel and settled in to plan our time in Hong Kong.
 
I only had a few days in Hong Kong before my flight home to see my boyfriend before he moves to America, so I tried to fit in as much as I could.  First on the list was to visit our old home in Hong Lok Yuen. The first step was to take the Star Ferry across to the main land. This was super exciting as the Star Ferry is one of my favourite memories from Hong Kong. It is this awesome green and white ferry that you take for 2 dollars across to Victoria Harbour. We did end up cycling up and down the prom like 6 times before we found the ferry port but it was totally worth it. The view of Hong Kong Island from the boat was beautiful and the ferry was just like I remembered.
 
After crossing the sea and managing to somehow blag getting our bikes on the metro we travelled to Sha Tin and I walked up to the Temple of 1000 Buddha's, one of the places I remember from my childhood, it brought back all the lovely memories:)
  
We then cycled along the coast to Tai Po and on to Hong Lok Yuen :)
 
We got into the gated community with surprising ease and it was just like I remembered. We visited our old primary school, and got to have a look around. It was literally exactly the same, it was so cool to see our old classrooms, the field where we used to play, the pillars where we practised handstands, the hall where we had Dramarama and they even had the same pointy cups by the water fountain J
 
Then we headed to find our house, after a little cycle around we found Hong Lok Road East and made our way to number 233. Then all of and sudden we were there! After leaving our home in Hartford we had arrived at our home in Hong Lok Yuen. It was really exciting but it had changed a lot, gone were the beautiful iron gates in exchange for a fancy steel door. But we could just about see the house through the gaps and the balcony where Dad, Lou and I got locked out one day and Dad had to climb down the drain pipe! 
 
After taking all the photos we headed to the park where we used to play and I sat on the 44 It rock :) To finish off an amazing day we met up for tea at the Country Club with Bethany, a friend from school! We hadn't seen her in 18 years but it still felt so comfortable chatting about life and what we do. It's crazy that you can share something so long ago and still be bonded by it. Another school friend, Nicola, joined us and brought along some photos of us all when we were 8 and reminisced about Mum's Making Club:)
 
The next day I went across the island to Stanley Market, another favourite memory, and spent the rest of my savings on souvenirs and shopping! I then met up Lou at Ocean Park, our favourite theme park! It had changed a lot, the butterfly house and mechanical T-Rex had gone but it was cool to take the cable car down the mountain and see the dolphin show.
  
Home Sweet Home
Then all of a sudden it was my last day. I packed everything up, weighed my bag, re-packed it, unpacked it, weighted it… this went on for way longer than I expected! But eventually I was ready, just in time to meet up with another school friend, Clara, for some awesome Hong Kong dim sum… it was SO good!
 
All too soon I was at Hong Kong International Airport ready to come home. 
                                       
I arrived in Manchester on Christmas morning and got big hugs from all my family and got to enjoy a delicious Christmas meal, including lots and lots of delicious gravy! And incredibly I made back to England in time to spend 2 wonderful days with my boyfriend before he set off on his own adventure in America.
  
I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to Mum, Dad and Nikki who were so supportive and always there when we got into a pickle, or needed some motivation. It really means a lot:) And to all my friends and family who called, skyped and sent messages while I was away, I missed you all loads and it was so good to hear from you throughout the trip. Cant wait to see you all:)
And also to James, my man on the ground, for always being there, and putting up with me calling at all times of the day, being off the grid for weeks at a time and more than once crying down the phone to him. He never told me this trip was too dangerous or that I couldn't do it or that he didn't want me to go and that meant so much to me. And I am delighted to say that this wonderful man is now my fiancé :D There will be cycling, camping and exploring in our future and I cant wait!
 
Today is a year since we set off on this crazy adventure and it almost feels like it didn’t happen. To think about all of the things we have done it boggles the mind, finding the Monty Python tunnel in Holland, playing Star Wars Irish Snap with Aram in Austria, running away from mosquitoes in Serbia, meeting Nina and sleeping half a km away from an all night rave, cycling in 40 degree heat through Greece, drinking vodka on the Caspian Sea ferry, wild camping in Kazakhstan, high fiveing kids at 3000 meters in Kyrgyzstan, having water freeze inside our tent at night, cycling into China with a group of awsome cyclists, throwing up in a Chinese taxi, getting chased by dogs on the Tibetan Plateau, learning Chinese hand counting, and I’m sure I’ve already forgotten loads more but will try to make a note of the things that randomly pop into my head over the next few months. It’s all the little moments which may not mean much at the time but when I remember them make me smile.

So here is a little message to anyone who is maybe thinking of doing something a bit crazy, whether it is cycling half way around the world or going out of your comfort zone by trying something new definitely do it! You wont regret it, all the best things happen outside your comfort zone :)
 
But wait you say, what happened to your trusty steed Charlie the bike?!
I am delighted to say that his adventure continues! I stuck my Hong Kong sticker on the frame to join Tegan’s (slightly battered) South Africa sticker, and Kelly’s Iceland sticker and passed him on to a cool Canadian cyclist called Ali who took him to Thailand for a month of cycling and exploring the beautiful countryside. He is currently in Bangkok awaiting the next stage of his adventure, it would be really cool to find someone to continue his journey and make it the whole way around the world!
​
Charlie the bike had his quirks and definitely enjoyed falling over when it was least convenient but I got very attached to him and wouldn’t have any other bike:)

Lou's blog:
“Life is too brief and too rich to tiptoe through half-heartedly, rather than galloping at it with whooping excitement and ambition.”  Alastair Humphreys, There Are Other Rivers: On Foot Across India


A year ago today I set off in the hopes of finding something that would challenge me to the edge of my limits, I wanted to be thrown in the deep end and have to use everything I have to make it work. I wanted adventure. I wanted to finally do a big trip that I had dreamed of for years and I was so curious to return to Hong Kong, the place we grew up and hadn’t been back to in 18 years.  A year on and I finally feel like I gained all that and so much more, and all it took was 12,066 very slow kilometers.


On this adventure-anniversary I would like to share some final stories from the trip and the things that I’ll hold with me for the rest of my life.


Perspectives is Key
Having my friend Aram join us for Germany to Budapest and again across Kyrgyzstan was such a highlight. Through him I saw our journey with new eyes, and was re-energized with the ambition of what we were taking on. It was also pretty cool to see how much I had grown by the time we reached Kyrgyzstan. I remember the day we set off, I’d never been so unsure and nervous as on that first day pedalling away from home. I didn’t know if I could even make it through the next day never mind the half of the rest of the world which lay ahead. I remember passing a road cyclist about an hour in who asked if we were doing Lands End/John O’Groats, I grinned at the road (because I was too unsteady to look up at him and talk) and shouted back “Nope, we’re going to Hong Kong, and this is our first day!” Even as the words came out of my mouth they sounded ridiculous. At each next stage of the journey the nerves would come flooding back – when we crossed into Eastern Europe, the first time wildcamping, setting off into the unknown desert in Kazakhstan…But when Aram arrived the second time in Kyrgyzstan and told us of the snowy mountain passes we would have to cross, I realised for the first time that I wasn’t worried. By that point, after weeks in the desert, running out of water (twice), being chased by dogs, cycling more than 100km in a day, being offered hospitality, water and food by kind strangers in every country and becoming more connected with nature and the environment around us, I felt a kind of calm contentedness that we could take on whatever lay ahead just by taking it one day at a time. That assuredness and trust in my strength and abilities stayed with me through the Takalamakan desert in China and still lurks somewhere in me now.
So thank you to Aram for bringing fresh perspective, for jumping into lakes, for introducing us to brandy, cinnamon and apple juice, for cycling 60km for a sandwich on his second day of touring, for patiently describing cheese, for always being positive even after the 5th puncture in one day and for bailing out 12 cycletourers with no dollars in Sary-Tash.






“I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery—air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, "This is what it is to be happy.”  Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
 One of the things I miss the most from cycle touring is the joy of spending all day, everyday outdoors and the connectedness which comes with that as certain things move to the front of your consciousness and others slip away. To be immersed in the landscapes we were slowly travelling through was really quite exciting and learning; my favourites were the length of the Danube in Serbia, the desert Steppe of Kazakhstan, the mountains of Kyrgyzstan and the high plateaus of Qinghai in China (I realise that covers a good 60% of the trip but it was all really quite spectacular). Moving at the pace of a heavily laden bicycle meant there was plenty of time take in all of our surroundings and to notice how a place may look a little desolate but is in-fact alive with movement, life and colour. I remember looking around at the endless, flat grasslands of the Steppe and noticing how the wind rippled across the fields of golden grass turning it darker brown in waves like brushing velvet the wrong way. There were wildflowers hidden in the grass and insects among the bushes which grew out of dry lake beds with soil cracked from the long days of sun. Annoyingly, all of these things which added so much richness to the journey are ridiculously difficult to capture in photos!
Now onto the weather – the weather affected everything! The rising of the sun was our alarm clock and when it touched the horizon was the signal to set up camp, the direction of the wind (ie constant headwind) would affect our mileage and the dropping temperature to -10 at night led to grumpy twins. When the temperature reached 40 degrees in the desert we were laid down with 7 litres of water each and when the time came to put my winter coat back in the bottom of my panniers I was so so so happy.




Part of a Community
There’s a glorious thing that happens when a cycle-tourer bumps into another cycle tourer on the road. The connection is instant and adds a lot of excitement to the day – partly because of the chance to talk to new people, partly to get important info on the road ahead but it is also partly reassuring to know that other people are on similar journeys.  I remember glancing up from my tea in Bulgaria and seeing a girl with a touring bike sat on a bench by the river, one shared watermelon later and a shared experience of terrible nights wildcamping and we had a new travel buddy all the way to Athens! Cycling with Nina was so much fun, I loved her positive energy and one of the highlights of the trip was getting a message from her saying she was coming back to join us for another week!
Each encounter is unique but every single one was so much fun, from sharing tea with 4 daring American ladies on a rainy morning along the Danube, to setting up a slackline between a tree and a lorry with a Frenchman in Bulgaria, and sharing tips about the road ahead in China with the kiwibums. Sometimes it was a small as getting a thumbs up from a motorcycle tourer halfway up a long mountain climb or glancing up to notice a solo cycler wrapped up against the cold on a busy highway in the Tien Shan mountains, I only had a moment to wave, but when I glanced back they were waving too. 


One of the highlights was being in Osh, Kyrgyzstan and hearing rumours that 10 other cyclists were going to be arriving in the small town of Sary-Tash in three days time….the same time we were planning to arrive! We rocked up and spent the next day on plastic chairs lined up by the side of the road in the sun, drinking terrible beer waiting to see who would arrive.  And sure enough the front wheel of a bike rounded a parked truck and who rolled into view but Chloe and Will from the Caspian Sea ferry! Josh had arrived earlier that morning and it was here we met Team Oufti and Tim and Jess who would cycle to Kashgar in China with us a few days later. It was a lot of fun to spend time with other tourers, swap stories of the road, relax and know that we didn't have to justify to each other a day spent on laptops rather than exploring the beautiful scenery! enjoy the beautiful scenery before a really enjoyable ride to the Chinese border. 


It is a small but increasingly growing community of people who choose to leave their lives, pack everything into panniers, learn how to maintain a bike and set off into the wild world to discover what’s in the blanker spaces on the map and joining that group is one of the best things I’ve ever done. Highly recommended.


  
The world is a much kinder, friendlier, more curious place than people imagine. Fact.
People are lovely and curious and kind and they proved that time and time again. From the families in Serbia, Greece and China who opened their homes and gave us a room for the night to the truck drivers who would pull over, jump out, proudly show us a bucket of fish they had just caught, take a selfie and insist we take a watermelon for the road. There were countless people who handed us a cold bottle of water or coke on the road and then drove off with just a nod and a smile. 
Strangers came to the rescue time and time again; one day in the desert we were running out of water and the next two chaihanas/teahouses were closed, I had drunk the water from a tin of sweetcorn and was rationing the last inch in my bottle to 1 sip every half hour when we came across a lorry parked in a lay-by. I went to ask the drivers if they had any spare water and not only did they fill all our bottles, they produced the juciest, most delicious melon for us to share, seconds later a car pulled up and, without even having to ask, a family gave us a packet of biscuits and some nut-snaps without a seconds hesitation.
One of the things I found hardest was learning to accept the kindness of strangers, at first it felt like we were imposing on them by accepting the invitation for chai or the offer of some free bread for the journey or a night in their homes. But I learnt that accepting help and kind offers is a way to learn more, become more connected and added a richness to the journey. In exchange we learnt to share stories, agree to a rounds of selfies and precariously balance small children on our bikes for more photos! J. 


  
Home Sweet Home
I haven’t written much about our arrival in Hong Kong, its hard to put into words something which I’ve dreamt about and visualised for so long. There was so much joy at being back there and walking through our old village and meeting old school friends and finding out that we actually had a lot in common! But there was also sadness that the trip was over which turned into the utter debacle of trying to pack my bike up for the flight which is a story for another time (lets just say that without the help of two kind Australians at the last minute CJ and I wouldn’t have made it back to the UK together!).


I’ve been home in the UK now since January and in these 4 months I’ve launched myself into more things than ever before. I’ve carried on cycle touring around the UK, got back into climbing and did my first trad lead climb and multi-pitch, I went to Snowdon in winter with gloriously adventurous strangers, timidly fell down slopes on a snowboard, joined a Medair course and made some inspirational new friends, started practising with watercolours, met someone to have adventures in the UK with, jumped in the sea in Cornwall, played rounders and have taken up yoga! 
UKtoHK has been such a big part of my life for so long it’s hard to plan a life for after it. In a whirlwind of job applications its hard to tell what is next, I hope to get a job abroad again, I hope to turn my adventures into paintings and I hope to plan many more bicycle adventures for the future….so far my list includes:

• Cycle the coast of Italy – super lightweight and simple
• Cycle Alaska to Ushuaia – a trip for a few years time
• Cycle the Karakorum – Inspired by the intrepid cyclers I met
• Cycle Iran – to complete the Silk Road path

 One things for sure though, I’ll treasure memories of the journey forever and will aim to live a life characterised by excitement, adventure and ambition.

Charlie's blog: - A land of deserts and mountains
After one of the more interesting boarder crossing involving multiple bag scans and a taxi across 140km of no man's land we sped down the road towards Kashgar in the wonderful company of Cyril & Vera (Team Oufti), Tim & Jess (Bicycle Diaries) and Josh (who doesn't have a cool instagram name). With the combined effort of A Wheel Oufti Diary we reached Kashgar and after locating our hotel headed straight out to find food at the Night Market. I'd been looking forward to Chinese cuisine for a while, it being my favourite type of food (that has now changed to a Sunday Roast, when I was cycling through the Taklamakan one of my podcasts said the word roast which led to 2 weeks of constant fantasising about a big Sunday roast with lots of gravy and mashed potatoes and beef and mushy vegetables and roast potatoes and apple sauce... mmmmmm). The night market was fun and we filled our bellies for the first time since being in central Asia where we could have eaten three portions of every meal! One of the perks of being a cyclist is defiantly the appetite it gives you!

It was great spending some time with the Ouftis and Diaries and other cyclists we met in Kashgar. We had a good wander around and had tea in the 100 Year old tea house where we apparently stumbled upon the best table in the house judging how it was pounced upon by two old men before we had even begun standing up to leave haha

Cycling with Aram in Kyrgyzstan, meeting up with the big group of cyclists in Sary Tash and entering China as A Wheel Oufti Diary has been one of the best parts of the while trip, it was so much fun, thank you to everyone for making the past few weeks so awesome:) To anyone planning a cycle tour I would highly recommend getting on instagram, the cycling community is wonderful and so supportive and it has been the best way to meet other cyclists.

We packed our bags (including a new set of panniers for me thanks to a wonderful man from Boskey!) And headed off into the Taklamakan Desert.
Our first night didn't go quite as planned but ended up being awesome. It got dark and we hadn't found anywhere to camp as it was farmland for miles and miles out of the city. We had stopped by the road when we saw a man come out of the darkness carrying a whole load of wheat (or something along those lines), he stopped, said something in chinese and did the international sign for sleeping. We nodded vigorously thinking he would let us sleep on his farm land which turned out to be just round the corner. This lovely man, Tomasin and Annagou,
and his wife not only let us sleep in their one roomed farm house but also gave us soup and bread. The hilarious catch was that after tea Annagou emptied the biggest sack of cotton plants into the floor in front of us, we spent the rest of the evening with the couple pulling out the cotton from hundreds of buds! It was actually really lovely and we like to be able to help out when people offer us a place to sleep but oh my gosh we ended up going to sleep at 1am!! We were exhausted! We camped along the edge of the desert for the next two weeks, some times it was easy to find a spot but more often that not it involved navigating some kind of barbed wire fence to get away from the road, it's almost like they were discouraging this kind of thing!
Now you may be picturing rolling sand dunes, beautiful landscapes and scorching sun... so were we! In reality the road goes along the edge of the desert where it is mostly rubbish rock and pebbles, not a sand dune in sight. And as it was the end of October at that point we were wearing multiple coats most days and began to realise that our gloves were no where near warm enough to get us through the winter.

To top it off I got my worst illness of the trip so far, culminating in me throwing up three times as I got a taxi to the next city where I could rest and recover. It was not pleasant (thank you to my medic friends for your antibiotic advice!).

We made it to Turpan, the half way point through the desert and had had enough of it! We booked ourselves and our bikes on a train to Jiayuguan and rested peacefully knowing that the desert was done with.

Now I know my overall impression of cycling the north Road of the Taklamakan has not been positive (and actually everyone we met who has done it also agrees that it was shit) but there were nice bits. The mountains out of Kashgar were colourful and beautiful (way better than the so called Flaming Mountain in Turpan!) and... no that was about it. I was glad to get out of the desert!

We stayed in a cute hostel in Turpan and hung out with some other travelers who were braving Xinjiang province in the winter. I also bought some velour lined leggings to help combat the cold... best purchase ever! It's like a hug for my legs :)

We hopped on a sleeper train to Jiayuguan which is where the Great Wall of China ends. We visited a fortress city, the last beacon tower and got to walk along a section of the wall, bucket list tick!

From there we were officially out of the desert and heading into the mountains of Qinghai province. Qinghai used to be part of Tibet and you can see the influences everywhere from the architecture, the people and especially on the mountain passes which were absolutely covered with prayer flags and these little bits of paper that people throw into the air as they cross the pass.

We were straight back up to over 3000 meters altitude and it was super cold now. We made the executive decision not to camp at this altitude but instead hop from town to town. It was a good plan until we got to Qingshizui where we were greeted by the police and told the whole town was closed to foreigners. They tried to tell us we had to take a bus to the next biggest city 2 days cycle away. But after some advice from the Biking to China WhatsApp group we stuck to our guns and said we didn't want to take public transport and they let us stay the night (it also helped that as we were negotiating we missed the last bus!).
We also had one night sleeping on the floor of a restaurant when Lou got a puncture and we ended up stuck in this little town. The lovely owner let us sleep in the restaurant by the stove for warmth and gave us a free meal and breakfast:)

Cycling through the mountains was beautiful, all snow covered peaks and switchbacks. Then when we got up onto the plateau at 3800 it was gorgeous views for miles and miles around.
We stopped in Xining to see Kumbum Monetary, a Tibetan enclave with beautiful temples and a lot of monks living there. It was really exciting to see! We also visited Langmusi which was on the boarder of Qinghai and Sichuan provinces and had a temple on either side. There were a lot of monks there top including two groups of teenagers who I spotted hiding behind pillars having a fire cracker fight in the streets! It is streets beautiful part of the world and I am so glad we got to cycle it:)

From the plateau it was three days of gorgeous down hill all the way to Chengdu. Boy was I glad to get here, it seemed like we have been heading here for ages! Coming through western China it hadnt really felt like we were in China. Xinjiang province felt very central Asian, with people looking and speaking a mixture of Turkish and Russian. Qinghai was very Tibetan and people there also spoke Tibetan rather than Chinese. Entering Sichuan province it immediately started to look like the China I expected. There were pagodas and dragons in the architecture and beautiful forests and hills.

We arrived in Chengdu and were immediately invited to join a group of cyclists, ready for some more cool instagram names? Rae (boatsandbikes), Scott and Sarah (longrodehome), Ida and Robin (KineticNomads), as well as Katya, Martin and Peter. We ate some of the famous Sichuan hotpot and had an awesome evening taking bikes and touring and life in China. It was the perfect welcome to the city:)
So that's where we are now, we've had a couple of days here, visited the Giant Panda Research Base, seen a Sichuan Opera with the famous face changing mask routine -seriously amazing, i have no idea how they do it! And are on our way to Xian to see the Terracotta Warriors.

We are about to start the last leg of our tour which will take us through Guilin and on to Hong Kong. It's been an incredible month and a half in China so far and we even crossed the 10,000 kilometer mark! 10,0000 kilometers, that's absolutely crazy. Well done legs, you've earnt a massage when all this is done.

Life on a bike is utterly unpredictable, action-packed and thrilling whilst at the samej time being monotonous, tedious and sometimes downright boring. Luckily the type 1 days are more frequent than the type 2 days which keeps the delight of living on a bike alive.
To demonstrate I’ve made a list:

Type 1 day: , Toktogul, Kyrgyzstan

* A casual early morning 3200m mountain pass.
* Being invited into our first real-life, genuine yurt.
* Giving our legs a break but our brakes a beating in a glorious downhill section from snowy mountain top to rocky gorges.
* Spotting other cycletourers for the first time in months.
* Even more speedy downhill fun
* To cap the day off arriving at the guesthouse to find an adorable, over-excitable puppy.

We awoke to the sunrise on a grassy hill at just over 3000m. It was 6.30am and freezing cold as the wind buffeted our tents. I went to filter water from a nearby stream and Aram set up the kettle to boil water for tea (ahem, sorry coffee). We three huddled round trying to warm our fingers on the hot mugs but soon gave up and started to pack up camp. From this moment on the day could have gone either way, but today, today turned out to be a Type 1 kinda day.

We set off immediately hitting a hill, but this was no ordinary hill, this was our second over-3000m mountain pass. At the summit we spotted three yurts at the foot of a magnificent snowy mountain and after lingering outside a friendly lorry driver shouted and waved us in. This was our first yurt experience! The inside was soft, cosy and decorated in blankets of rich reds, pinks, maroons and ochre. We had second breakfast of eggs, bread and chai and then waved goodbye to the lorry driver as we took off for the long awaited downhill.

We whizzed ecstatically through the mountains for 50km of downhill. The mountains turned from grassy, snowy, bare peaks to rocky pinaccles to a lush gorge and was just so beautiful that we were stopping every 5 minutes to take another photo.

Stopping for lunch at a café I had one eye on the road and noticed 2 cyclers with panniers coming up the hill. Leaping up Charlie and I waved frantically and gestured to them to join us in the café. Aram sat back and laughed. We hadn’t see any other cyclers for a long time, since the Caspian Sea ferry over a month ago and the prospect of cycle chat with other cycletourers was very exciting.
We arrived in Toktogul as night fell. The guesthouse was in a quaint white painted courtyard and the family were lovely and cooked me a vegetarian meal. And to cap the day off, they had a puppy! The most overactive, excitable puppy I’ve ever seen which to us was utterly adorable.


Type 2 day: North road through the Taklamakan Desert, China


* Waking up the day turned into a blur of peddal strokes, grey tarmac and grey skies.
* Landscape? What landscape. A dust cloud bought visibility down to 20 meters.
* And thats all I can remember.

Rolling over in my sleeping bag I groaned at the alarm which was bleeping next to my ear. I reluctantly pulled an arm out into the crisp, cold air to hit snooze and quickly pulled it back in to warm up. The biting morning air was not inviting. My warm sleeping bag was. Far too long later, Charlie and I pulled ourselves up and began to put down our camp. This day was to be a Type 2 kind of day.

It was the worst kind of cold, not the crisp-fresh-blue-skies-bright-sun cold but grey-damp-seep-into-your-bones kind of cold.
The Taklamakan north route is not a feast for the eyes, grey gravel lined either side of the grey road which slowly faded into a dull white sky. We were cycling through a huge dust cloud which shrouded anything from view that was more than 20 meters away so the only entertainment for our eyes came from the tarmac directly in front of us. I couldn't even tell you what podcasts i listened to, it all seemed to fade away into one pedal stroke after the next. Progress was slow. Tarmac is monotonous.

Type 1 day: Qilian mountains, China

* Rising an hour earlier than normal I watched the sunrise over the mountains topped with a buddhist shrine.
* Setting off onto the mountain plateau with fresh air, blue skies and the freedom of the open road.
* By 11am I had reached the highest mountain pass yet at 3767m
* Chilling with a holy chicken decorated in tibetan prayer flags at the top of the pass.
* A freezing downhill section made my fingers and toes go numb
* Arriving at the next town to be informed the whole area is closed to foreigners and we would have to leave immediately by bus!
*Negotiating with th

I had gotten up an hour early because I expected to need the extra time to do the 81km to the next town. Normally 81km would be a breeze but we were cycling above 3000m, the temperature was hovering around -6 and at least least 3/4 of the ride was going to be uphill. Not to mention the days were getting shorter which meant we had lost 2 hours of good cycling daylight. I set off out of town leaving Charlie in the hotel, she was ill and planned to take it easy and get a bus to the next town.
Some days the scenery is all you need, no music, no podcasts, no mental lists of what needs to be fixed on the bike etc. I was at around 3000m and the road traversed a plateau, flanked on either side by snow speckled mountain peaks and my vision was completely filled with the beauty and remoteness of the open road.

By 9.30am it was still -6 degrees but the sky was clear and the sun warmed the small part of my cheeks that was visible.
A long uphill finally ended in a whirl of snow and brightly coloured Tibetan prayer flags. The huge jumble of fluttering flags stood out brightly against the white snow, and the road fell away leaving the peaks of the mountain range at below eye level. This was my highest mountain pass so far at 3767meters. I watched as a family stopped to throw confetti like paper in the air and to pray to the shrine at the top.
The mountains seemed to peel away in front of me as I flew down the road and descended from the peaks into the twisting, turning valleys below. The speed was intoxicating after a morning of snails pace uphill. The exhilaration was only hampered by the fact I was like the michelin man wrapped in every single one of my layers and the tips of my fingers, ears and toes were numb from the cold.
I made great time and rocked up in Qibgshuizhenn 81km away by 3.30pm. As I sat chilling with a noodle soup in a café Charlie came in and explained the hotel had called the police! This area was apparently closed to foreigners and they were trying to make us take a bus or train to leave immediately! Luckily (for us) by the time I’d finished my soup the last bus and train had left and we refused to hire a car to take us 200km to the next town, Xining. They begrudgingly agreed to let us stay the night and we had a lovely warm nights sleep.


Type 2 day: Jiayuguan to Zhangye, Edge of the Gobi Desert, China

*Something probably happened in these two days, couldn't say what though.

The town of Zhangye sits on the southern edge of the Gobi desert and the northern edge of the Qilian mountain range. The roads into and out of it have all the makings of a spectacular days ride so it’s surprising really that it is so mind numbingly dull! Luckilt this was all building up to the spectacular Qilian Mountains which Brough back the fun and the challenge.

Life on a bike is quite special, knowing that you're self sufficient, with whole countries stretched out before you in seemingly impossible distances which quickly become filled with memories and experience's. ..except of course on those type 2 days which, for me, still remain blanks on the map surrounded by full, busy, colourful and hectic type 1 days.

Charlie's blog:
We were welcomed into Kyrgyzstan with our very first 3000meter pass. It had been a steady climb up from the boarder which gave us great opportunity to enjoy the mountainous views, a welcome change after an month in the Kazakh steppe! 

We spent a morning climbing what felt like the longest road ever, we kept telling ourselves it will go down round the next corner but every time we were greeted with more up hill. It got to lunch time and we cautiously looked at the cycle computer and to our dismay found we had only gone 15km! Not understanding why today was so hard we consulted Google maps to find, to our surprise, that we were already at 3000 meters altitude and the pass was only another 300m up! That made us feel a bit better about our measly 15km distance.

We made it to the top and had the obligatory celebration photo by the sign (it's only worth it if there's a sign!), and started the well earned downhill.

We found a beautiful hill to camp on that night, one of many stunning evenings in Kyrgyzstan. But we were still pretty high up so we quickly squashed inside our tent to play cards (quickly learning that when Aram says 'it's really simple', it defiantly isn't!).

The next day brought us our second 3000meter pass, we are on a roll... excuse the pun. Just before crossing the pass was stopped at a couple of yurts for chai and eggs, and my gosh they were some of the most delicious eggs I've had on this trip.  Yurts are wonderful things, from the outside they are white and plain but inside they are an explosion of colour and warmth. Every wall is covered in a different brightly coloured and patterned carpet and the floor is bordered by comfy cushions and mats. You could seriously snuggle up and go to sleep right there. Throughout our weeks in Kyrgyzstan we saw lots of signs advertising yurt camps and it would have been absolutely wonderful to stay in one, but as we found out we were there a week after the season ended and everything... everything... is closed. So no yurt stay for us, but I already have plans to go back and I'll make sure I am here in yurt season!

Back to the mountains, once we'd had our tea and eggs and crossed the pass we were on to one of my favourite sections of the whole 5 months so far. It was 40km of sweeping gorgeous downhill with the most amazing mountain views. We were stopping every few kilometers to take photos it was so beautiful. We arrived in Toktogul and found this adorable guesthouse recommended in Carivanistan, Guesthouse Kagan, run by a lovely couple who also happened to own the most adorable (and bitey) puppy.
On our day off we decided to hike up to a glacier... as you do on a day off from exercise! The hike was spectacular all the way to this glacial lake. However the whole day we were being followed by an ominous dark cloud which finally caught up with us literally as we reached the lake, thanks weather gods. We had a super quick lunch snapped a few photos and high tailed it back down the mountain.

We decided to leave our bikes in Toktogul and pop over to Bishkek for a couple of days. A 4 hour taxi ride later and we arrived in the capital, we saw the Burana tower and lake Issyk Kul, the second largest lake in the world and where the World Nomad Games were held! 

Then it was back to out bikes and off towards Osh. The weather finally turned on us and it was a wet few days so we treated ourselves to a couple of guesthouses to dry off at night.

Arriving in Osh was pretty spectacular, there's a huge rock mountain right in the middle of the city which makes a very impressive skyline. We spent a day looking round the bazaar and climbing the mountain, Suleman Too. We also bumped into a fellow cyclists! I spotted Alex checking into our hotel with panniers so immediately knew he was cool:) We were sat having some tea and swapping cycling stories when a lady came up to our table, gasped and cried 'A wheely long journey! ' it was only Vera from Team Oufti! She along with her partner Cyril are cycling from Amsterdam to Tokyo and we have been following their trip on Instagram never thibking that we would actyally meet them! The cycling community on instagram is wonderful,  there really so many people doing trips and everyone is so lovely. It's been a great source of inspiration and encouragement for me along the way so that was amazing to meet these people I felt I knew from social media . 

Vera told us that there was a group of 10 cyclists heading to Sary Tash from Tajikistan, including our Caspian Sea buddies Will, Chloe and Josh! It turns out they were cycling with Team Oufti  and the Bicycle Diaries from instagram!  That gave us xtra incentive to get out Osh in time to meet up with the group.

Leaving Osh we had 3 days of up hill with two mountain passes to look forward to before arriving in our final Kyrgyzstan destination, Sary Tash. You wouldnt think that uphill for three days solid would be much fun but actually the road was gorgeous, had some beautiful camping spots and the best bit was all the kids in the villages, no on ever seemed to be in school but they would all come running to the road side shouting hello hello hello and lining up to give us high fives as we passed. So cute! 

The third day was the biggie, we had about 60km to go which included a 3716m pass, the highest we had done so far. As we approached it it started snowing and we were wearing pretty much all of our layers. After A LOT of switchbacks and beautiful views we made it to the pass and had our traditional photo with the sign. It was a wonderful moment looking down at the that we had just cycled up, pretty pleased with ourselves at that moment :)

It was then a glorious downhill into Sary Tash itself. We arrived exhausted but happy and feeling very proud of our accomplishments. The next day we all sat outside the guesthouse waiting to cheer the group of cyclists in as they cycled into town. We had an awsome evening chilling out in the cafe, It was so cool seeing so many cyclists,  swapping stories and relaxing. In fact we liked them so much that we decided to stay an extra day in Sary Tash so that we could cycling into China into China with the Ouftis, Diaries a s Josh. Best decision ever!

We had a bit of a life admin day where I sorted out for a VPN for China, updated in stara,  Google ll the things I'd thought f while cycling. Our wonderful host also let us try fermented horse milk (100% would not recommend!!) and told us about his plans to build a yurt ans expand hia guesthouse (along with being a meterologist, motor bike and skI guide! This guy was awsome!). 

The next day was time for goodbye as half the group were heading to Osh including our cycling buddy Aram who was at theend...and the Outfis, Diaries and Josh were heading into China with us.

We set off on yet another stunning road in the mountains. The whole day was spent cycling between 3200 - 3800 feet. It was tough, catching your breath was difficult and venues the mallet no lines required a lot of effort. We stayed in a cute guesthouse just 4 km from the boarder where we had to navigate to the toilet around two cows and slept in he traditional Kyrgyzstan way, on e floor bundled up in many many duvets and blankets (actually really comfy:)

The next morning we officially crossed into the final ountry of our rip. .. China! CHINA! The order crossing was a big plava and took most of the day but that is for e next blog.

We had such a good time cycling with Aram and as a group, it's been so much fun. I've really loved Kyrgyzstan and I've already told James we should come back for the next World Nomad Games  do some more cycling here. I love this country:) 

Next time... Chinese boarder, Kashgar and throwing up in the desert!

Lou's Blog

​It really says everything when we spent the first two days in Kyrgyzstan saying "I miss Kazakhstan"!

​Our last two weeks in the beautiful Kazakhstan were busy ones as the end of our 30 day visa was looming and we still had a long way to go. We blasted down the road from Aralsk to Kyzylorda to Turkestan and Shymkent leaving a trail of 100km+ days in our wake. But in Shymkent I realised we had missed something in Turkestan, a mausoleum to Khoja Ahmed Yasawi a Sufi poet from the 12th century...I know what you're thinking, how could you miss the mausoleum of a 12th century Sufi poet right?! Well I thought exactly the same so on our one rest day I make the trek 180km backwards along the very same road we had spent two days on to see the sight. And boy was ot worth it! The huge mausoleum, which is now a mosque, stands on the rdge of the city and is already beautiful at first, far-off glance. It is half finished so one side looks like the open mouth of a basking shark whilst the other side is a mesmerising mosaic of geometric patterns in bright turquoise, lilac and gold.
Its one of those buildings that stops you in your tracks and makes you audibly say, wow. I walked up,mouth half open in wonder, and man appeared with an incredibly angry looking owl, reluctantly I took a picture at his insistance and before I knew it I was sat on a step with the owl clutching onto my arm with its claws being photographed by the other tourists.

My day out was a success so I hopped in a Mashrutka back to Shymkent, picked up a few bits and pieces to fix my panniers in the bazaar and packed for an early start the next day to Taraz and the border.

Our last night wildcamping in Kazakhstan was a bit of an affair as we had to cycle 120km so ended up setting up camp well after nightfall. We were exhausted and there was nowhere good so we walked off the road into the middle of an open field and set up the tent there (rule 1 of wildcamping: be concealed) and went straight to sleep. Waking up early the next morning I crawled out of the tent and was happy to see that although we were one obvious green tent in the middle of an empty field the views around us were just lovely. Flat fields on one side and on the other the foothills of mountains rising out of the morning fog lit by the orange morning sun. I was sad to leave this warm, friendly, beautiful country but it wasn't done with us yet! Oh no! Our last day in Kazakhstan was one of the best.

We cycled 50km to Taraz to meet Aram at a bike shop which Chloe and Will from the Caspian Sea ferry recommended. There we met the lovely Shuran who treated us to lunch and helped us find a place to power was our bikes. I adjuated my brakes ready for the mountains of Kyrgyzstan and we set off for the border....7 of us! Leaving Kazakhstan in style we cycled the last 10km with Shuran, his wife, daughter, friend and Aram. A memorable end to a great month.

​Now we are in Kyrgyzstan and the change is landscape has been dramatic and immediate. I really hope to go back to Kazakhstan at some point and explore more of the country, its a firm favourite. But first.....THE PAMIRS!!!!!!!!!! dun dun dduuuuuunnnnnnnn!!!!

Charlie's blog
From Aralsk we headed towards the city of Kyzylorda along the way we would pass the famous Baykonyr, which is where the spaceport is, the setting of many famous jaunts into space. The actual launch site is out in the steppe for for obvious reasons but the town apparently had some statues and a museum which we thought would be cool to see. After a morning of cycling we arrived in time for lunch and stopped at a local bakery. We then cycled down the road to the town only to be stopped at an army checkpoint who asked for Russian visas to enter the town, which of course we don't have. Thoroughly disappointed we tried the other entrance just in case they were more lenient or on a tea break or casually looking the other way but no luck there either. So we headed back out to the main road and carried on without seeing so much as a hint of anything space-y.

Two hours later I got my first puncture of the trip. 4 months and 3500 miles ain't bad! Thank you Christie crew for the Schwalbe tyres, they are great!

This part of the steppe was back to being hot, flat and sandy. It made for some fantastic views and more beautiful night skies. We met some great people on the road including two Kazakh guys on their way home from a fishing trip who enthusiastically waved us down to show us their barrel of fish, and another two guys who gave us some biscuits and a bottle of camels milk, a Kazakh delicacy... its like a weird disgusting fizzy milkshake!

​After Kyzlorda we were getting close to the end of our visa so we pushed on to Shymkent. After quite a few 100km+ days we arrived on time. Unfortunately on our one day off in weeks I was ill and all my plans to see the bazaars, a cool sacred rock, fix up my bike and buy supplies went out the window. Although I did drag myself out to one bike shop (which was closed) and braved the hot, crowded bazaar to buy some earrings and a shawl until I felt too ill and beat a hasty retreat back to the hostel.

It was a shame as I got talking to a lovely local girl at the bazaar who gave me loads of tips of places to go, food to try and things to do. She gave me a Kazakh delicacy called chokul, it is a small ball (looks decievingly like a bon bon) of dried horse milk and salt. It's awful. I highly recommend you never try it!

​Still feeling ill we left Shymkent for our last few days in Kazakhstan. We made for Taraz where we would meet Aram our cycling buddy from Austria and cross into Kyrgyzstan.

After a message from our Caspian Sea friends Chloe and Will we went to find a man called Shakran and his bike shop. We had such a great afternoon, Shakran bought us lunch and took us to get our bikes power washed! Then we spent the afternoon giving our bikes some tlc before the mountains. When it came time to leave Shakran, his wife, daughter and friend all hopped on their bikes and escorted us all the way to the boarder! It was a hilarious 10km singing Rolling Stones and the Beatles and getting pushed along by Shakran so that it was the fastest 10km I think I've ever done!

It was sad to leave Kazakhstan after such a wonderful month, but what a day to leave on! Now we successfully crossed into country number 12, Kyrgyzstan! I am super excited to be here, back when i spent my time learning the countries of the world instead of writing my dissertation, never did I think it would visit this oddly named country.

Goodbye flat Kazakh steppe, hello Kyrgyz mountains!
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Charlie's blog:
Kazakhstan is huge, it's the 9th biggest country in the world which is pretty much the size of the whole of Europe! The whole journey is 3,016km and we have a 30 day visa to get from Aktau to Taraz.

We had a day in Aktau with the other cyclists from the Caspian Sea ferry, the highlight being trying to order food at a restaurant with absolutely no idea of what we were going to get! But it did introduce us to plov which has been my main meal everyday for the past 3 weeks!

The next day we set out into the steppe for a 6 day cycle to Beyneu via Shetpe. Cycling in Kazakhatan is completely different to what weve cycled so far and so we needed to adjust our food and water supplies to include at least 5 litres of water a day and enough noodles to last a week, as well as fruit, snacks and chocolate (obvs). After fitting all this food and water on our bikes all the extra space I'd made by sending lots of stuff home back in Greece was well and truely gone. Luckily we dodnt need to carry lunch food as there were tea houses called chianas all along the route. They are mostly used by lorry drivers who have been a really nice bunch and have come to our aid with water on many occasions. We quickly picked up the common questions we would be asked (where are you from, did you cycle all the way here, where are you going, are you two sisters?) so we could have conversations with a mixture of our limited Kazakh and a lot of miming. One driver drew us a rough map with the distances between each town. He was going the opposite way to us but a couple of days later he caught us up on his return trip and stopped to say hi again!

Another by product of stopping at chianas is that it gives everyone there the opportunity to ask for a photo. The Kazakh have no qualms about asking for a picture (using the globally recognised mime for picture). Pretty much every day we get out photo taken at least once. Sometimes if it is a family or van full of people they all want a photo and we end up standing and smiling with 4 or 5 people! Other times we get waved down as we are cycling along to have a quick photo but my absolute favourite is when cars slow down to drive next to us while the passenger hangs out the window to take a selfie with us as we are cycling along!

The Kazakh steppe is very flat as you might have suspected but actually there are little hills and craters and a couple of rocky plateaus which varies the landscape. But it's really all about the evenings, camping on the steppe you get the best sunsets and stary skies. It is really stunning and pictures just don't do it justice but it makes for the best views for brushing my teeth!

My other favourite thing about cycling the steppe is the amount of camels everywhere, just hanging out or crossing the road. They really seem to have a good look at you as you cycle past.
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Despite our best efforts cycling through the steppe was a learning curve and twice on the way to Beyneu we ended up running low on water with no chiana in sight. So we stopped at house to see if they would fill up our bottles. Both times the family gave us water and invited us in for some chai and food. It was such a lovely experience as both times the whole family was there, from grandparents to kids and babies. Everyone would be sat round a low table covered with food. The ladies wear brightly coloured dresses and white scarves over their heads and again using our poor Kazakh and the trusty Google Translate we spoke about our trip and we're introduced to the family.

The kids were the best, they all wanted to try on our helmets an have a go with our cameras, which turned out really well as they took some of the best pictures of the trip!

We successfully made it to Beyneu and had a decision to make. Kazakhstan is already an enormous country but it is made even bigger by the fact that there is no road that goes from East to West, oh no, instead you have to make a 1000km detour up north via Aktobe... google map it and you'll see what I mean!

So we decided to take a sleeper train from Beyneu to Aktobe and then continue cycling from there. The train was a lot of fun, it was an open carriage with fold down bunk beds. It left at 10pm so we went straight to sleep and then spent the next day reading, napping and chatting to the other passengers, particularly one cute little girl called Ira who was in the bunk beds next to ours with her family.
When the train stopped at stations we could hop out and buy food from the ladies selling on the platforms.

​We arrived in Aktobe the next day to find that it was really quite cold! We were pretty much in Russia but I hadn't considered the climate change, but it was an opportunity to finally use some of our cold weather clothes that we've been cycling around with for the past 4 months so that felt pretty good.

The next stage, Aktobe to Aralsk, was another long stretch through the steppe, 611im which we predicted to do in 7 days (we actually did it in 6, go us!). The first few days were full of headwind and rubbish road that was still in the process of being tarmaced bt we were still making around 90km a day, not much else to do but cycle when you are in the middle of nowhere! Podcasts and audiobooks have become an essential part of my day, at the moment I listen to the adventure zone (thanks James!), tough girl, coffee break spanish and this american life a d would highly recommend them all!

We mwt some friendly people along the way including two men on their way home from a fishing tril, they showed us the barrel of fish they'd caught and gave us a melon, another couple stopped to give us a bag of sweeta and a bottle of carbonated camels milk (apparently a big thing in Kazakhstan but eww it ia disgusting!) and a group of lorry drivers who filled up our water bottles and shared a melon with us when we were running low before arriving in Aralsk. I really cant stress what a lovely bunch the Kazakh people are :)

We had a day off in Aralsk to shower, chill ans see the abandoned barbour before setting off towards Kyzylorda the next big city on our route and where we are now.

The main attraction on this stretch was that we would pass Baykonyr, where the Spaceport is. This is where they launch all the rockets from including Yuri Gagarin, first man in space! I knew the actual launch site would be out of view, you wouldn't want a space lainch pad right next to a town! But we thought the town would be interesting at least. Unfortunately it was a big disappointment as it turns out you need a Russian visa to go into the town (trust us, we tried). So we left after having a lovely pastry and piece of cake without seeing any of Baykonyr.

The infamous cross wind was back making cycling very difficult again but we are still doing roughly around 100km a day, and we'll have to keep it up if we want to be at the Kyrgyzstan boarder before the 19th. We've heard the fine for overstaying your visa is pretty hefty so we'll keep pushing on towards Taraz :)