Another Day on the Road

A beautiful, crisp, clear dawn greeted us in Aksu today. After a simple breakfast of steamed dumplings the riders took the road out of the city and churned past the multitude of small villages flanked by lush green trees and vegetation, dodging people, cars, trucks, dogs and donkeys before hitting the open road. The landscape turned into a desert and the rugged sandstone ridges rose up towards the bright blue sky. Sounds nice? Well, it was and although for the first 50km, the traffic was rather manic,when the landscape turned, the pace eased and the riders relaxed with many coming in with a tired, but happy look on their faces. Lunch consisted of noodles, pasta salad, sweet bread and hot drinks (as much as you wanted) so it was a long term affair with many deciding to take their time and enjoy the warm sunshine. A sweet little flu bug has descended onto the group, so riders are hanging out with croaky voices and chesty coughs but nothing too serious. As the day wore on, the desert camp appeared on the flats, just past a large power station (mmmmmm, sounds lovely doesn’t it?) but 300m off the road, on a flat with an awesome view of the mountains, we are enjoying the scenery, soaking up the atmosphere, relaxing under a Chinese sunset and swatting mosquitoes. It seems eons ago that we were in Kashgar enjoying a rest day but tomorrow, yet another rest day is upon us – the town of Kucha, a mere 100km down the road – down the flat road so everyone is hoping for a tailwind to get us there quick so they can enjoy a good rest after 5 days of averaging 150kms plus!