Printable View
ChinaV and chinabiker went out to burn petrol from May 15th to May 20th.
We spent the entire trip outdoors - except when we had to enter a shop :icon10:
As a starter, we'd like to present the following picture :thumbsup:
http://www.mychinamoto.com/forums/vb...9&d=1243142892
Entering the forgotten valley
So, stay tuned until we are done with a full :riding: report.
Cheers from ChinaV and chinabiker :goodtime:
looking forward to the rest of the RR should be a beauty.:thumbsup:
Sometime in April ChinaV and chinabiker decided on doing a trip in Beijing, Hebei and Inner Mongolia :deal:
The time had come ans so we went out for six days and five nights between May 15th and 20th :thumbsup:
ChinaV flew into Beijing from Shenzhen on May 14th noon, where he was picked by Kurt.
After checking in to the hotel and a little chat over a cold drink we went to pick up the bike, which ChinaV later named "Miss Piggy" :lol8:
http://photos.imageevent.com/chinabi...0514075806.jpg
ChinaV on the way to Shenzhen airport
http://photos.imageevent.com/chinabi...0514083037.jpg
Boarding
http://photos.imageevent.com/chinabi...0514150147.jpg
Picking up "Miss Piggy"
We joined the biker BBQ party :goodtime: at Frank's Place in the evening, as reported in another thread and enjoyed the night in a real bed - the next five nights will be in the tent.
Biker's BBQ at Franks
Tomorrow we start, stay tuned :icon10:
The weather was not too good, overcast the whole day, pretty windy and chilly in the mountains and we were thankful for the heated grips :thumbsup:
Around 8:00 we started loading the bikes, went to buy fresh German bread and drew some cash.
We left Beijing around 9:30 and headed onto the expressway to leave the concrete jungle behind as quickly as possible. After a good hour of riding we had our first stop at the Yellow Bridge Cafe. Across the first little pass we reached Sihai where we refueled. We rode through a valley on nice black surface, which we left for our first gravel road section after about 20 kms. On this section we stopped for lunch.
lunch
After the break we made the rest of the dirt road and hit a brand new road where we enjoyed 20 kms of perfect black top before we turned onto a minor concrete road, which eventually turned into a dirt road.
Our second dirt section lead us across the brick smugglers pass.
On the way up to brick smugglers pass
On top of this pass people store the stolen bricks, which are manufactured at the bottom - 3 pieces go off every truck:eek2:
There is a tiny altar where they pile up their booty.
For the brick god :naughty:
the road down
Back on black, we headed North into Hebei, stopped at a little village to stock the necessary liquids for the night ahead :rolleyes1:.
We still had quite some distance to cover to get to the valley where we intended to camp.
Yes, they had enough beer :goodtime:
The first road research didn't pay off since we were unable to find the road we were looking for.
We used another road to cross into the next valley instead and were successful on two more mountain crossings on dirt.
Another little dirt road
Emptiness
Traffic
Eventually we made it to the turn off for paradise valley, where we spotted a very nice camp site, out of sight from the road and pretty close to a river.
After setting up camp we had a nice little BBQ and sat at the campfire until 22:30, when we retreated to our tents and were unspotted until the next morning.
We started slowly with breakfast and while packing the bikes we saw blue patches between the clouds. At the time we left the sky was almost clear.
Good Morning, Miss Piggy :lol8:
Out of Andy's tent http://photos.imageevent.com/chinabi...smiley-bmw.gif
Campsite
Breakfast
We continued to ride through paradise valley, a narrow, green and very low populated gorge where we passed some small villages and spotted a roadside temple.
Paradise valley
Passing through a hamlet
The temple
morning traffic
At the end of the valley we hit National road G112, which we followed eastbound towards Fengning.
Across a pass with some great scenic views and not much traffic, we passed the Northern suburbs of Fengnigng, before we went on G111 to the North.
After a short refueling stop and brief shopping we were on the way again, leaving G111 towards Inner Mongolia.
Pass on G112
scenic view :thumbsup:
Andy :riding: on G112
The minor tar road we were on, led through an ever narrowing valley and eventually turned into a narrow concrete road and winded up a small pass. At this point the wind started to blow pretty strong, since we were now well above 1000m on a high plain. We stopped atop and noticed a pipe running all the way up to the peak. A short eye contact and the decision to ride up was made.
ChinaV on his way to the top
We stopped at the very top of the hill enjoying some great views, while a stiff breeze was blowing.
After a short while we turned the bikes around and made our way back down the hill.
The hilltop had three edges, which were cliff like steep and we took good care at the turn around maneuver.
Being very focused to avoid the edges, ChinaV stalled his engine and was on the ground. ChinaV 1, Andy 0
I had been a couple of meters away already and turned myself around to take a picture, and got a 1000 in 1 snapshot.
Scenery
ChinaV on top of the hill
The shot :lol8:
Back on the road we spotted a turned over excavator, having no idea how the guy managed to do this.
excavator - upside down :confused1:
After about 20kms, the black top turned into gravel, very much to our delight. A few kms into the wide valley we stopped for lunch.
ChinaV pulled up to a small hill, me following. Unfortunately I forgot about the width of the panniers and hit ChinaV's left with my right - ChinaV 1, Andy 1 :lol8:
Lunch spot
lunch spot
After lunch we continued to follow the valley, steadily climbing with the wind becoming stronger and stronger.
After about 40kms we reached a crossing with a black top road. We could have taken it to reach our intended campsite, but we elected to continue on gravel, just for fun.
We stopped several times for pictures and eventually reached black again.
Wide valley and dirt road
Up and up we ride
A short stretch of tar in the middle of nowhere
At a short break
Pregnant donkey - at least Sabine says so
The road was covered with sand from time to time and it was very visible that people fight against the desert in this area.
Fight against desert
The ride continued on a tar road, pretty straight with soft hills alongside. The strong wind now hit us from the right and we were riding at a pretty fancy angle, almost as if in a corner, to stand the force.
Meanwhile the sky was cloudy, temperature dropped significantly and the grip heaters came back on.
In a small village we stopped to buy beer, water and eggs, before we left the main road, riding on a dirt road through some small villages and finally on grass along a lake.
After crossing the dam of the reservoir, we had to cross through water and finally reached the place we we would set up camp.
Horse and foal
It was pretty chilly
ChinaV along the reservoir
We pitched our tents on a meadow between two lines of bushes, hoping that this would protect us from the ever present strong wind.
The campsite is surrounded by beautiful scenery and with the clouds been partially blown away, there were some good picture opportunities.
Campsite - ChinaV named it "Camp Cold" :eek2:
At the lake
ChinaV's shadow
Across the reservoir :thumbsup:
Some people came along to see what the crazy foreigners were doing there, but no one bothered us.
Two guys in a black Santana offered us food and shelter, but we told them we are fine. One of them returned to the car and gave us two packs of cigarettes:clap:
ChinaV - the "Fire Man"
I prepared for cooking and ChinaV collected wood for the camp fire, where we sat after dinner until we burned all the branches and small logs.
The wind didn't die down at night and was still present in the morning, so we took it very easy and were pretty lazy with getting ready to ride - at 11:00
It took both of us to fold and pack the tents. We also moved our breakfast table to a place with better wind protection.
Breakfast
Leaving "Camp Cold"
First we took a few kms across a tiny dirt road and some grassland before we reached black top again. After passing messy Guyuan (Pingdingbu) town, we were on a main road, still riding at fancy angles to fight the wind's force. After a while I spotted a sign, pointing to place a saw on the map, leading onto smaller roads. Unfortunately we didn't re-fuel, so we decided to follow the boring main road. With villagers all around us we rode on quickly to find a gas station just a few hundred meters down the road - a sign of biker's god ? :rolleyes1:
We filled our tanks with, as it turned out later, shitty fuel and headed back to hit the smaller roads. The guy at the station said that the road we intended to take was bad and he was pretty surprised that we said we would like that :icon10:
After about 15kms on tar we stopped at a village for a little shopping and rode on just to find that the tar turned into gravel.
Shop
Along the dirt road
Since we started late that day, it was time for lunch and we found a nice spot with some protection from the wind, just near a tower of the great wall. A non-renovated section, pretty impressive and ChinaV's first time to step on the great wall.
Lunch place
A small step for a man ... ChinaV's first time to stand on the great wall :thumbsup:
Just after our lunch spot the road turned into a tar one again. We followed it South and passed many more old wall segments and forts. The road was running through one of these forts and we stopped to take some pictures - us and our bikes. To have good light conditions we turned the bikes around for the photo session. While ChinaV set up the camera, I noticed a road on a mountain, leading away from the main road. After picture taking and resting, we found the bikes pointing exactly to that road, and felt they would like to go that way - another sign of biker's god ? :rolleyes1:
In front of the fort
Without hesitating, we took this gravel road up to the mountains.
After a couple of hairpins we reached the top and great views into another valley opened up. A few more hairpins down we hit another gravel road, which we followed in the main direction we were heading.
On the way up
View from the top
Down we go
What lies ahead
Just a km away the road split again and I stopped to see if we should turn off the main way again. A power line and a telephone line were along the road, leading into a tiny valley - the power line theory was born and we decided to give it a try. Wherever power or phone lines go, must be something.
We followed that path, which was partly running in a dry river bed, until the poles disappeared and there were only sticks holding the wires. Suddenly the wires ended and we had reached the absolute middle of nowhere. There was no indication that we would be able to cross the tall mountains in front. After we enjoyed the quiet and loneliness for a while, we had to turn back.
The end of the power line - the end of the road
In the middle of nowhere
Just as we reached the last hamlet we were passing through on our way in, I took a wrong turn and wanted to turn around, as ChinaV pulled alongside, reminding me of the power line theory, which we successfully applied again. We crossed the next mountain on a gravel road, which obviously was constructed by brute force. Handball sized rocks were the smallest on this stretch, running through a dry river bed again and eventually ended in a village, built around yet another fort of the great wall. When we reached the "main" road, we applied the power line theory again and rode through a ravine, obviously formed by nature and used by man. We passed several other ancient great wall sites and towers, before we made a wrong turn, which took us into a dead end once again. I thought we had to go back all the way we came, but thanks to ChinaV's HTC Touch, Google maps and the ever present China Mobile network, we eventually made our way out across another mountain, successfully applying the power line theory again.
A 60km ride on a perfect tar road was ahead and we made it to the day's destination in no time. I have been in the village for camping three times before this, therefore knew the super market, a bunch of people and the nice camping spot next to the Baihe (White River).
We became the attraction of the day (or maybe week) in front of the market, and headed to set up camp after stocking up.
Attraction of the day, week, month, ...
It didn't take long until a bunch of people showed up to watch the two idiots :crazy: preparing camp, but as soon as we started cooking they all left. A while later, after dinner (pasta with tuna and black olives) the head of village Police showed up, just to say hello, welcome again and have a good time - important to know people and people knowing you.
Although there was not much wood around we had a camp fire again, this time mostly burning dry corn - the "fire man" made it, yet again :icon10:
Camp fire, mostly dried corn
Just before the night set in we took a short bath in the not too warm river :mwink:
The more South we went, the higher temperature climbed and the strong wind, we had for most of the day, eventually died down.
Just enough to spend a pleasant evening next to the camp fire, at "Camp Familiar"
F-ing phenomonal stuff guys! I am green with envy. :mwink:
Great photos, riders and scenery. My favorite photo of the bunch is of course:
https://docs.google.com/File?id=dc5zxfjp_71gqdqbc9v_b
:lol8::lol8::lol8: :thumbsup:
That truly is a fantastic shot. At least the bike was close to the top of the hill and not stuck in 20cm of mud!
Are these photos all mixed up? I'm sure we'd all like to hear ChinaV's comments on various parts of this.
Great job on keepin' it rockin guys! Wish I could have joined you but this is definitely the next best thing! :thumbsup:
:riding:
C "I'm riding in my mind" C
Tis is a 'pure luck" shot :lol8: I was sitting on the bike, already pointing downhill, when I turned around just to take any shot - one-handed I took it and didn't know about it until later.Quote:
Originally Posted by CrazyCarl
All pics are mixed up, and only if you check the Exif header in my web album you'll find who took it - ChinaV = Canon, chinabiker = Casio
Let's wait for some comments from ChinaV, but he's kinda busy this week :icon10:
We left camp at 8:45 after breakfast to cross a mountain pass which still was on my to do list. The first kms were on concrete and as soon as we passed a still under construction 30 RMB tourist trap, we were on dirt again. The road climbed steadily, we reached a nice view point and the weather made it picture taking day.
http://photos.imageevent.com/chinabi...0518071833.jpg
Breakfast
http://photos.imageevent.com/chinabi...0518090616.jpg
On the concrete road
http://photos.imageevent.com/chinabi...0518090645.jpg
To take the previous picture, ChinaV found a good place to shoot
http://photos.imageevent.com/chinabi...0518091226.jpg
The new tourist trap
http://photos.imageevent.com/chinabi...0518092042.jpg
Vista point
We stopped again after only a km or so to enjoy more of the great views in clear weather.
http://photos.imageevent.com/chinabi...0518093700.jpg
Picturesque scenery
We continued to ride down the dirt road, which partly was pretty narrow, steep and rocky. It took us quite a while to reach the bottom, where we stopped for a short break, pretty exhausted.
http://photos.imageevent.com/chinabi...0518094456.jpg
ChinaV fighting his way down
We followed a concrete road out of a valley before we hit the main road, which we followed West for about 20kms.
Now at the entrance of the five passes, now renamed to "the forgotten valleys". 40kms of dirt road up and down were ahead.
We started with a river crossing, just before the path climbed. Countless corners and hairpins to take us to the top of the first pass.
http://photos.imageevent.com/chinabi...0518104424.jpg
ChinaV in the river
http://photos.imageevent.com/chinabi...0518104650.jpg
Andy crossing
http://photos.imageevent.com/chinabi...0518110352.jpg
A view back from the first ascent
http://photos.imageevent.com/chinabi...0518105903.jpg
Andy
http://photos.imageevent.com/chinabi...0518111926.jpg
ChinaV
We crossed another pass before we spotted a nice place to have lunch.
http://photos.imageevent.com/chinabi...0518115856.jpg
The road was blocked by herd of goat
http://photos.imageevent.com/chinabi...0518130549.jpg
Our lunch place
The next gravel road pass lay ahead, with narrow and steep hairpins, leading up the border between Hebei and Beijing.
In one of these corners I managed to stall the engine and the bike went on the ground - ChinaV 1, Andy 2 :lol8:
Luckily it is a strong machine and no damage was done to her. We picked it up and moved on towards the border post.
http://photos.imageevent.com/chinabi...0518133202.jpg
Ooops :naughty:
We reached the border post, with only one guard, and as he saw me, he couldn't believe that I am back.
I was there a couple of weeks ago with robert and since then only two pages were filled in his tiny notebook.
ChinaV approaching the border post
http://photos.imageevent.com/chinabi...0518134846.jpg
Post, guard, dogs and Andy
http://photos.imageevent.com/chinabi...0518134739.jpg
The border book
We moved on, down the pass, along a small creek, passed through a village and climbed the final gravel pass.
There was a muddy passage, and ChinaV slipped of the edged and went down into the mud - ChinaV 2, Andy 2 :lol8:
http://photos.imageevent.com/chinabi...0518141008.jpg
Along a creek
http://photos.imageevent.com/chinabi...0518144939.jpg
Bike down :naughty:
http://photos.imageevent.com/chinabi...0518145514.jpg
Somewhere on the final pass
Eventually we reached civilization and a perfect black top road, first going up a bit and then down for about 10kms.
On our way down we stopped again for some pics and made our plans for thenext days.
http://photos.imageevent.com/chinabi...0518152822.jpg
A view into the plains near Yanqing
http://photos.imageevent.com/chinabi...0518152945.jpg
The great wall is over there
We continued our ride down into the plains, made are-fuel stop and went for our daily shopping. They had frozen water bottles, ideal to keep the beer cold - this is what water is for, isn't it.
We rode up another small pass on tar, along the Baihe reservoir and stopped for dinner in a restaurant. The one and only time we were in a restaurant, because the past diet was a bit boring already.
http://photos.imageevent.com/chinabi...0518164754.jpg
Baihe reservoir
After dinner we went to search for our home of the day and it didn't take long before we found a really nice spot next to a river.
We took a full shower in the river and remained totally unspotted.
http://photos.imageevent.com/chinabi...0518191125.jpg
"Camp Charming" :icon10:
http://photos.imageevent.com/chinabi...0518210928.jpg
The obligatory camp fire
We made only about 140kms that day, but every single one was worth it !