china 2009
Aberystwyth to Beijing-2009
This was truly a ride of a lifetime. 10,000 miles of mainly uncharted territory. Billed as a ‘scouting trip’ by Steve Hotson, the tour leader, as it was his first organised venture to the Far East. John Walsh and I rode swiftly (very swiftly at times!) and comfortably through an ordered western Europe with wonderful scenery in Germany, depressing industrial decay in Romania and Ukraine, warily(and unsuccessfully) past corrupt police in Russia, slowly with considerable difficulty on some very rough roads (when you could find one) in a mainly barren Kazakhstan, to the China border where we joined the main group of 8 other riders. Our Uiger guide/minder led us through a mixture of everything you could wish for in a fascinating, severely ruled, environmentally irresponsible, overwhelmingly friendly China .