Leg 4

Saturday, May 10, 2014 We woke up to find that it had been raining overnight. A little surprising, as we haven’t seen rain in a good while. Another long day of driving planned so everyone was ready to head north…

Thursday, May 8, 2014 Another longish day of driving most of which were on the express-way to save some time and ease the pain a little. The afternoon activity was a guided visit to Zhangbi Underground Castle. The locals built…

Wednesday, May 7, 2014 After a wonderful three day break in Xi’an it was time to continue the journey north. We got up and away early to try and beat the morning traffic, we were partly successful. The first stop…

Saturday, May 3, 2014 Another long drive on fast and free roads. First we had to back-track to Baoji along the same road as the previous day and then continued along the expressway to Xī’ān. In fact we actually stayed…

Friday, May 2, 2014 It was a long night. Stephen managed to get another tummy bug, and most of the night was spent awake and very near the toilet. These tummy bugs are getting a little annoying and we are…

Thursday, May 1, 2014 Today was a big driving day for us and also the start of a three day holiday in China. We expected the roads to busy and they were. Fortunately much of the driving was on the…

Tuesday, April 29, 2014 We set off from Xiaojin around 8am as we had a long day’s drive ahead of us… none of us knew how long and challenging the day was about to get. It started innocently enough, as…

Monday, April 28, 2014 It was a cold night as our hotel room did not have any central heating and the outside temperature must have been around 5ºC (40F), or maybe even lower. Fortunately our beds had electric blankets, which…

Sunday, April 27, 2014 Just a short update as we are a little short on wifi. Drive from Lǐtáng was wonderful, although the road was under construction and the tunnel through the mountain was not complete. This forced us to…

Saturday, April 26, 2014 The mountain drive today was even more magnificent than the previous day. We really gained some elevation, peaking out at 4,708 mts (15,446 ft), which is higher than any point in the lower 48 states of…

Friday, April 25, 2014 Everyone hit with the tummy bug were strong enough to get back in the cars and head North. We had a long-ish drive planned for the day and wanted to get going. Lun advised us to…

Wednesday, April 23, 2014 Tiger Leaping Gorge was a wonderful stop and although we were there for only an afternoon and a late morning start, it provided a much needed break. We left the gorge on the same road we…

Saturday, April 19, 2014 Today we headed to Dàlǐ, which was 280kms (174 miles) north. Although the road continued to wind through mountains valleys but was remarkable fast. There are bridges over the valleys and long tunnels through the mountain.…