25 September, 70km and 300m of elevation

Dali to Eryuan

Dedicated cycle path on the western side of the lake for the first 40 km, Completely flat Rachael would have loved it. Beautiful views of the 4000 metre peaks either side of the lake.

I found Eryuan to be a rather soulless town, I was expecting it to be small but was full of modern high rise apartments, my hotel room was on floor 17.

On looking for tonight’s dinner restaurants were few, it seems many of the apartments are unoccupied, During China’s building boom, developers built expecting people to move from their rural properties. Apparently this is a problem repeated many times over in provincial towns.

26 September, 132km and 1800m of elevation

Eryuan to Lijiang

Huge day today, for two reasons, a big day buys me some time, also I needed to test myself, to see if I am capable of riding up to the Tibetan plateau in a few days.

The day started with a relentless ascent, climbing from 2000m to 3250m, the air became cooler and thinner. I would miss a breath when having a sip of water and would gasp to catch up. My first sight of a Himalayan mountain, Yulong snow mountain at 5600m is the southernmost glaciated peak in the northern hemisphere. It has been climbed only once in 1987 and this was an audacious climb over crumbling limestone and unstable snow as not to have been repeated, the Chinese authorities have recently closed climbing the mountain for safety and cultural reasons.

27 September, 70km and 1200m of elevation

Lijiang to the start of Leaping Tiger Gorge

A shorter day planned, so did a post breakfast exploration of Lijiang old town. This was a maze of narrow cobble streets and ornately carved wooden buildings few more than two floors high. It is fenced off from the surrounding city and completely traffic free,

A fantastic greenway took me out of the city, and a quiet concrete road up into the mountains. It was steep and I felt the altitude today as I reached almost 3500m above sea level.

A rest and a moment to enjoy the views of snow capped mountains and green valleys before starting the descent, I was expecting a fast descent and reaching my destination by about 2.30 and having a relaxing afternoon. How wrong I was soon on a ridiculously steep and rough gravel path, hopelessly looking at a map and satellite images to find a way through. At times I had to get off and walk, this took ages and it was 5.30 when I reached my destination.

28 September, 55 km and 1500m of elevation

Leaping Tiger gorge to Haba

This is one of the deepest gorges in the world, with glaciated mountains over 5000m either side and the Yangtze River at its base, roaring over a series of rapids. The road was a little busy to start, numerous tour buses, these thinned out after the ticketed viewing platforms complete with lifts down to the river.

A pleasantly quiet, smooth and scenic road zig zagged its way up to Haba. This town is the stepping off point to climb the nearby 5400m peak, also called Haba.

First impressions of Haba town weren’t great they seem completely dug up the road with the intention of making as much dust as possible.

In fact I had a really good meal and walking through the town was super friendly.

I met a father and son from Belgium, their reason for being here was rather tragic, Hugo Huyghebaert left for a hike to the summit of mount Haba on the 26th of March, then failed to catch his return flight home on April 1st. His family I expect were looking for closure.

29 September, 29km and 350m of elevation

Haba to Samba

Gentle morning ride today arriving in the small town of Samba at 11.00 am ad checked in to a beautiful Tibetan style homestay .

The afternoon was spent exploring the white terraces, a formation of pools and terraces created from the calcification of lime saturated spring water. They were quite wonderful against the mountain backdrop.

This spring was above the terraces and away from the crowds. I looked into it for some time, captivated by its effervescent sparkle.

30 September, 100km and 2100m of elevation

Samba to Shangri La

An earlier breakfast today as it was going to be a huge day, cycling up to the Tibetan plateau, a maximum altitude of over 4000m. The wonderful host gave me extra breakfast and proudly a cup of 3in1 coffee.

Unsure how the altitude was going to affect me I kept a close eye on my heart rate, keeping below 120.

A few km before the Summit of the pass there was a viewing platform and surprisingly a coffee van (first I have seen in China), also at this point a cycle tourer from the other direction also stopped. He was from California. Over a coffee it was good to compare notes and have a conversation in English.

Over the pass and onto the Tibetan plateau, instantly the landscape changed, rolling hills forested with pine and birch. Wheat or barley were the crops being grown in the valleys along with poor pasture and yaks grazing.

A gentle descent into a strong headwind and threatening clouds lead into Shangri La, my destination for tonight and the northern most extent of my tour.

Shangri La is a well preserved Tibetan town with a striking monastery. The town is at 3300m above sea level and oxygen cylinders are widely available in shops and vending machines to assist un acclimatised tourists.

It was also colder, than I had suitable clothes for, a touch of frost at night and about 15c during the day.