More dust and dirt 1st June

Set off as the sun was rising and little did we know at that time we were setting off with all the trucks that were on the move. The dust in the distance is trucks on the road.

You can see these a long way off and the safest thing to do is pull over and stop and wait for it to pass, as they do not move over as a rule. The other reason for pulling over is they may be a Toyota Land Cruiser trying to overtake him and he has not seen you.
Remember the roads are quiet and you only ever see Lorries or Land Cruisers so always be on your guard
Another pass to contend with to take us over 4500m and if you look carefully you will see it twisting backwards and forwards into the distance


After 75 miles in there is a village which is next to a military base, in fact most of the villages here are next to military bases and it’s a chance after 3 hours to have some “Cha” not “cye” but it is the same thing and top up fuel
Wherever we stop, the bikes always draw and audience and the first thing they ever want to know is how much, so we say 1 dollar. This has them looking very confused. Not really a good idea to tell a load of poor locals how much it is really worth




The fuel filling was crazy again and the guy had the green barrels and he put them on the big barrel so he could siphon them into the tanks. He was very thoughtful as he used a “pop sock” tight thingy over the end to stop ay rubbish getting into our tanks because this fuel is low grade a not very clean. Needs must dictate that we have some. The bike will adjust for the lower octane of something unknown
All fuelled onward we go as individuals as the dust we kick up stays airborne for a long distance, so to preserve the air filter and see where we are going, we keep our distance big style
Just a few pictures of the open stretches of road



Remember to watch out for those pesky Lorries around mountain pass tight bends as you cannot see the dust plume. Even sounding the horn does not slow them down until they are right on top of you. These picture was where I had to slam the anchors on and push my bike to the cliff edge to let them pass (there was two Lorries) and as you can see not a lot of room.


Then finally to our homestay (4230m) which is marginally better but with the altitude and the riding, that demands a lot of concentration, you are soon ready for bed. Note the cutting edge wash facilities for all your body. Looks like face, hands and neck then and a wet wipe was for the private places





Honest that is the genuine name of the village (military base next door) where we are staying which gives ideas of golf course, hotel, pool etc. Stop it back to reality

7586 miles – Reed Willow Beach, China