Since nobody wanted to join me for this ride, I decided to go out alone. I headed West again since I noticed that there are still more roads and trails out there, which haven't had my wheels on them :icon10:
The first time I stopped was after 1 1/2 hours just to refuel the bike. I went on for another 15 km, stopped to re-fuel the rider and to tell my wife that I would be out of phone signal for the next 2-3 hours, where I was and where I was heading for - she wouldn't have been happy if she knew that before I left :naughty:
I rode into a canyon-like valley, often not wider than the road. I reached a stone pit about 15kms into the valley where massive blocks were taken out and half a dozen men were living in a small camp.
The valley became more and more twisty and I thought several times I reached the end but there was always a next bend :eek2: The valley widened when I climbed through 1000m asl, as signs of human life were present.
I stopped to re-fuel the rider, next to a field where a farmer was working. Sure he came to see the bike and to ask me where I was going. I gave him a beer and asked him to write the name of the village where a turn off of the "main" road would lead to, so I could check it on the map later, but it turned out he couldn't write :eekers: Luckily, another fellow came along who could write the name of the village.
A kilometer or so later, I passed a village, Mahuangyu, and thought to have traveled 100 years back in time. It is quite a large village and all was tidy and neat, simple however.
I left Mahuangyu behind and started to climb a pass, a very nice dirt road, just to my taste. After every turn I had an ever nicer view of Mahuangyu, the higher I came.
Close to the top of the pass - I had reached almost 1700m asl in the meantime - I stopped again to take yet another picture of that lovely village of Mahuangyu. As I stopped, I spotted a guy sitting at the roadside staring down to the village. I moved a few meters on and saw a hut made of dirt, which I assumed to be a checkpoint and the guy being the guard. He didn't take any action until I switched off my engine. Then he stood up, slowly walked into his guardhouse and came back out with a radio and a visitor list. He presented me the list, I filled in some fields, what made the guy very happy - probably his first foreigner on the list.
Not far behind the checkpoint I met the first moving motorized vehicle since I entered that valley. Shortly after that, I reached the top of the pass, not without taking another picture of, guess what, Mahuangyu :lol8:
I spent like 15 minutes on the Top before I started to move on, down towards the main road (S241 in Hebei). Some more nice views before I reched civilization again.
A final brake for rider refill before I took off for the long way back home, along the Southern shore of Guanting reservoir, across another pass back into Beijing and the final pass down to Changping in the very Northwestern corner of Beijing city.
P.S.
PM me if you want more pictures of Mahuangyu :lol8::lol8:
05-04-2011, 09:03 AM
euphonius
Re: Beijing - Weekday Adventure
Awesome pictures and report, Andy. Amazing that this kind of solitude and serenity and wilderness is so close to one of the more chaotic megacities on earth!
Thanks for posting!
05-04-2011, 09:40 AM
felix
Re: Beijing - Weekday Adventure
Beautiful ride chinabiker! Thank you very much for this. I just wish there were more pics of mahuangyu....
05-04-2011, 09:50 AM
chinabiker
Re: Beijing - Weekday Adventure
Quote:
Originally Posted by felix
Beautiful ride chinabiker! Thank you very much for this. I just wish there were more pics of mahuangyu....
I knew there aren't enough pics of Mahuangyu, so here they are :lol8:
It's a Chinese village like a million others are, but somehow different. It is maybe the way it is embedded in the surroundings.
05-04-2011, 10:26 AM
felix
Re: Beijing - Weekday Adventure
Haha, nice one!
05-05-2011, 02:33 AM
Pfaelzer
Re: Beijing - Weekday Adventure
Great ride again, Andy.
Thanks for the pictures. Really time to come up to Beijing for a ride. Interesting to see how early spring it is up there - not too much green yet. How are the temperatures? Really nice again to see the GSA in nature.
Ride safe Andy,
AW.
05-05-2011, 03:47 AM
chinabiker
Re: Beijing - Weekday Adventure
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pfaelzer
Great ride again, Andy.
Thanks for the pictures. Really time to come up to Beijing for a ride. Interesting to see how early spring it is up there - not too much green yet. How are the temperatures? Really nice again to see the GSA in nature.
Ride safe Andy,
AW.
Almost everything is already green in the city at 45m asl, but when you ride out and get higher up, it is very early spring. In some shady spots up in the mountains, you still find ice and snow :eekers:
The big problem up here is lack of rain. From my observation there was no considerable downfall since October 24th !!!
However, temperatures for riding are close to perfect, 15 to 25 on the C scale :icon10:
Btw, I'm going out :riding: again tomorrow :naughty:
05-05-2011, 10:13 AM
ChinaV
Re: Beijing - Weekday Adventure
Two ride reports in one week :clap:, just keeps getting better and better. I'm assuming you must have a bit of free time on your hands if your back in the saddle and posting again. Can't wait to see where you're off to next. :popcorn:
Cheers!
ChinaV
05-05-2011, 11:01 AM
chinabiker
Re: Beijing - Weekday Adventure
Quote:
Originally Posted by ChinaV
Two ride reports in one week :clap:, just keeps getting better and better. I'm assuming you must have a bit of free time on your hands if your back in the saddle and posting again. Can't wait to see where you're off to next. :popcorn:
Cheers!
ChinaV
Will be three reports by tomorrow :naughty:
Apparently it's getting better and better and I hope even better :lol8:
Indeed and right now, I have time to spend as I please :lol8::lol8:
I'm off again tomorrow - early - and for sure will post where, when, why, ....
05-06-2011, 09:57 AM
Pat
Re: Beijing - Weekday Adventure
You're killing it this week! Mahuangyu looks like an interesting place - definitely worth all the pictures! I just did a quick google maps search for it, is it the 麻黄峪 in Hebei on some nameless road off of S241.. because if it is - according to google maps that road doesn't go through!
Looking forward to the next report!
05-06-2011, 12:23 PM
chinabiker
Re: Beijing - Weekday Adventure
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pat
You're killing it this week! Mahuangyu looks like an interesting place - definitely worth all the pictures! I just did a quick google maps search for it, is it the 麻黄峪 in Hebei on some nameless road off of S241.. because if it is - according to google maps that road doesn't go through!
Looking forward to the next report!
Exactly. This is where "my" Mahuangyu is located :icon10:
On Maps it doesn't go through but in reality it does. Download my track and see it in Google Earth.
Just came back from another awesome ride - more tomorrow :deal:
