One year on the bicycle. Blimey. Where do I begin? I normally start these blogs with a picture of the route being discussed in the post, so I’ll do the same here. Below is the line I’ve cycled over the last 12 months. Would you like some stats? Distance: 19,326km Countries visited: 27 Days cycled: … More One Year On The Bicycle: A Retrospect (16/01/15-16/01/16)
Langmusi was geared towards tourists, but clearly not receiving any at this time of year. There were a whole bunch of hostels in the village but every single one was closed. I haggled an open hotel room for less than a quarter of their ‘rack rate’ but it still wasn’t as a cheap as a … More China Part 4: Most Wanted in Chengdu (Langmusi to Chengdu 19/12/15-02/01/16)
This blog begins by closing the cliffhanger I left the last one on. I returned to the PSB office in Jiayuguan to find my visa extension ready to go. I was annoyed I’d lost another day waiting for it but thrilled to find it was indeed 30 days commencing from collection date. Before giving it … More China Part 3: Tasting Tibet (Jiayuguan to Langmusi 04/12/15-18/12/15)
I was finally given my Kazakhstan exit stamp and I cycled over to China along with Bertrand the Frenchman and the Aussies Sarah & Scott (who I’d cycled across Kazakhstan with). The no-man’s-land was a pointless 7km that snaked around in a strange loop before dropping us back just a stone’s throw from where we’d started. On … More China Part 1: Welcome to the Middle Kingdom (Kazakh border to Turpan 06/11/15-17/11/15)
From Kyrgyztan’s capital Bishkek it was only a 25km ride to the border. I met up with the Frenchman Bertrand (who I’d cycled with in Tajikistan) and we headed over to Kazakhstan together. The border was a total shambles. I’ve come to expect nothing less from Central Asia’s border crossings, but the last couple I’ve … More Kazakhstan: Searching for Borat (26/10/15-05/11/15)
Between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan there’s a long 20km of no-man’s-land. Unsuprisingly there’s not much going on in there but one family, it turned out, had a tea house right in the middle. It was getting late in the day when I exited Tajikistan and I was over the moon to find some civilisation. After struggling … More Kyrgyzstan: Meeting the willy snatcher and wearing strange hats (02/10/15-26/10/15)
I had my longest ‘civilisation-less’ stretch ahead of me from Sharhud. Nothing major, but more than 200km between towns. As usual the wind was pain in the back (or front, rather) and the heat scorching. I hate the lack of shade in the desert – it makes things really tough sometimes. Normally I like to … More Iran part 3: Shahrud to the Turkmenistan border (05/08/15-14/08/15)
I cycled off from Yerevan in the burning sun. For a good while the road was nice and flat and there was only one mountain in sight – the two unmistakable peaks of Mount Ararat, the Armenian icon (that now lies 40km into Turkey). Just before the day’s climb started I stopped in a village … More Armenia part 2: Yerevan to the Iranian border (09/07/15-15/07/15)
With my brakes working again, we crossed the Macedonian border back into Bulgaria again. Just passed the border we found a what looked like a perfect picnic spot by on old bridge over a river. But the picnic didn’t last very long – a shepherd arrived out of nowhere shouting at us to move so that … More Bulgaria & Greece: Mountain climbing (27/04/15-08/05/15)
I was last in Prague about four years ago. On my last visit (which was also a very brief one), it had been one of many blurred stops as I’d tried to cram in as many cities as possible in a month long Interrail ticket. I was really struggling to remember anything about the Czech … More Prague to Vienna: Spring has arrived (16/03/15-23/03/15)
JKB's Bike Ride 