Rain is back 14th June

Woke up to the wonderful sound of rain which is not what we need today. Yesterday was all tarmac and today promises tarmac for the first 70 miles then we have about 20 miles of apparently gravel roads. I think mud will probably be what they will end up to be.
Rain suits on for the first part of the day and we have an immediate climb out of the town to an altitude of 4500m and the roads are good but more and more 4x4 vehicles that do crazy things. Pulled into a lay-by to get the picture down into the valley and would you believe it, two Tibetan monks who have a very keen interest in Motorbikes


The valley that we are travelling down starts to look m ore like Switzerland than China and it is very enjoyable riding along looking at the surroundings

Then the river valley becomes more of a Gorge and the mist starts coming in with rain as well.

Not long after this picture was took we then had the end of the Tarmac and then got onto the unsurfaced road. All was ok to start with but as the road got twistier, the rough surface just became a mud pool.




The road gets narrower and twists along the contours of the Gorge. Lorries use this route and unfortunately I did not get any photos where a part of the road had collapsed and we had to fight for any bit of road as it got backed up in both directions as they tried to repair the roadway. All I can say is that the Tibetans are very impatient when they are in there vehicles and could get things moving quickly if they took the time to be considerate to all that were on the road that day.
We finally arrive at the check point and we have a bridge to cross. Not just any normal old bridge but two rows of planks for car tyre to roll along but the soldier was very insistent that is did not take any pictures due to the check point on the other side.
Anyhow here is a picture of the bridge taken in front of the sign which says “no photos” to just be a little bit of a rebel.

This marked the end of the “most Dangerous Road in the world” and only last week saw two tourists’ killed from Hong Kong when their car went over the edge passing a lorry coming the other way. On a bike we do not need as much room than fully and can get round a bit easier as long as the pesky 4x4’s are not around

So back onto the tarmac with the changing weather which cannot decide whether it wants to rain or be sunny and finally to the town for our evening stop. This is starting to be the general look of most towns and villages

9463 miles – Bomi, Tibet