Black and Blue in Taihang Shan 太行山

[milton]

Day 6 and 7:
Going home

According to our newly acquainted Luoyang friends, there were many nice bike routes to the south of Luoyang. However, without Felix and not certain how best to train the bikes, Motokai and Barry decided to wrap up the trip and head our separate ways home on bikes instead of putting them on the train. As a good team player I went along with the plan. Motokai consulted the Google map and came up with a straight route for Shanghai.
The ride going home was quite uneventful as expected.

Not willing to pay the entry fee, we passed by the famous Shaolinsi 少林寺, the mecca of Chinese Kungfu, at the foot of Songshan 嵩山 without seeing Shaolinsi:



Day 7:

Almost immediately after getting on the expressway Motokai had a flat. By the time I’d found out about his misfortune I was already 150km ahead of him. Through a SMS conference, we decided to go our separate ways for Shanghai. I was told previously that going across Yangtze River through the expressway was rather difficult, so I opted for G40 from Nanjing and headed for Nantong 南通 to trace my way back to the same ferry I used on the first day.

Along the expressway the Rapeseed was in full blossom. Getting really bored of riding on the expressway and trying to get a better view of the rapeseed blossom, I exited earlier before reaching Nantong 南通.

The view from the expressway is always less than optimal and confined:



After exiting, the same rapeseed blossom becomes more enjoyable:







From the ferry going back to Shanghai, the Yangtze River was just as muddy as the Yellow River:



I was safely home by 7:00pm. It had been a highly enjoyable trip with 2 wonderful riding buddies. The bike performed well. The 3.0 ECU upgrade had also proven itself.

I can now cross out 黄土高原 from my bucket list.