23rd June - Chengdu to Beichuan

Another insane day (155km)!

I need to stop this now and get more sleep.... I am knackered.

I was up at 5.15 to pack up and bike to the bus station 10km on the other side of town to buy a ticket and catch the bus to Denba to meet Jenna at 6.30. I was there with 15 mins to buy the ticket and find the bus and fortunately there was someone that speaks English at the counter.
Unfortunately the bus to Danba was fully booked and the girl said that I could get another train to another town and then change buses. It would take a lot longer though. It turned out that the Danba bus took this route anyway as the direct road to Danba was damaged in a earthquake 3 years ago and is still not fixed. This was the route that me and Jenna were planning on taking to get back to Chengdu. If this road is closed and we would have to go the long way round it would take several extra days. Days I do not have as I have to be in Xian by the 30th and it is over 700km away from Chengdu another 400km at least on top of this from Denba.

I have not been able to contact Jenna by calling, texts or email over the last 2 days (I found out later she was delayed by a mud slide and had no signal) and so after an hour of deliberation at the station I decided that rather than heading West to meet Jenna I would head toward Xian and also try to fit in Jiuzhaigou Nature Reserve on the way. The nature reserve is North of Chengdu and I should really head straight Northeast to Xian but the direct route is not through a very pretty area and so I would prefer to go the pretty route and take some buses to make up time.

I tried to get a bus out of Chengdu as it is never particularly fun cycling through industrial, built up areas on busy roads and I would prefer to have more time biking in lovely areas instead and do the rubbish bits by bus. However, I there were no buses going that direction from the bus station where I was and after failing to find a bus that would take me on the way out of the city I just gave up and put my headphones on and biked.

It was a hot sunny morning and it was good to be up at that time of day. It was 8ish by the time I got back on the road and it was rather more busy than when I was cycling through the streets at 6. There are loads of cycle lanes which the bicycles, motorbikes, bike-trailer things and anything else not a car or bus all share.

Most of the morning was a bit dull. It was very similar to cycling out of Guangzhou. No old architecture anywhere and loads of development. Good quality roads with cycle lanes.


This was not the only time that I have seen this in China. In fact I have seen it many times.... Woman hold on to husband standing in bike trailer while he cycles along.....

I had done 100km by 1pm and stopped for lunch. I asked for fish, veg and rice and got the hugest portion ever - it was ridiculous. Other people on the table next to me were laughing as I just look astonished! They only charged me £3 though so it was OK. The fish was in a really hot chilly sauce and full of bones and not the easiest thing to eat.

There was of course the ever present tea rooms - mainly filled with men.



And of course the card games in the afternoon in the villages.


It took me 30 minutes to make my way through this market as it was heaving.


After lunch google maps took me on country roads. Most of the time they were really nice good condition roads. However when I had done 130km I was uncertain whether to stop in a a town at a hotel. It was only 4ish and I thought my legs could take some more and so I decided to push on another 25km. It was a bad decision as the road turned from the flat plains to go over a pass on a dirt road track! My legs hurt for the first time in ages. It was a hard 2 hours....


I was very glad to arrive at the town of Beichuan by 6.30 with enough time to find a cheap place to stay and do some shopping for supplies. It is a nice little town.

Even showering and washing my clothes seemed like big things this evening. I have not been getting enough sleep and ended up doing 155km today. I just ate a tin of fish and water melon in bed for diner and relaxed.