Osh to China - Thursday 20th September to Wednesday 26th September

Mike continues to make an amazing recovery and has ridden for two days in a row. I also did my longest ride ever 180 K about 115 miles on 21st September. It was a great ride and I felt really really good. We did very little in Osh except look for food which gets very hard when no-one speaks English and the menus are all in Cyrillic. We just looked at other tables and pointed with great success.

I must say we ate very well though often it passes through our systems very quickly. This becomes a major topic of conversation in the morning, how did you sleep and how are your bowels. I had to tell someone the other day it took years of marriage before Mike and I got that familiar with each other. The other major preoccupation with rest days is laundry and today it took all day to find a dry cleaner to do it for us and then taking others back to drop theirs off then collecting it in the afternoon. Luckily it was in the middle of a great market so it was a fun walk and the people had the best hats so far this trip.We had also been welcomed the night before by the local mayor who arranged for a number of people to entertain us with wonderful horns and stringed instruments and some really good singers.

The next stage was going to be very hard with 6 riding days, only desert camps, a potential -5 degrees at night but with the lure of China at the end. It was to prove the hardest stage for us both but for very different reasons. The first day was fine and camp was by a freezing river which still allowed you to wash though I took a stand against washing my hair.The second day we rode to Saray Tash. We had been warned the roads would be bad so I decided to ride after lunch which was a bad idea. We were now at quite high altitude about 2400 meters and our next camp was at 3300 after a pass at 3600 meters. The pass was in the afternoon the bit I decided to ride, I though how bad could it be. It was so bad it was hysterical. I struggled along 10K about 15K per hour, I usually average 25K and this was on the flat but still managed to pass a few people. Then the climb started and the road turned to thick dust over broken up rocks. I struggled up a few kilometres and then decided to walk a bit. I though I’ll just turn the corner and see what is ahead then start again. Ahead was one of the most ridiculous climbs I have ever seen and all on this thick dust which my poor tires sunk into causing me to constantly take my feet out of my clips to stop falling over. I just thought I don’t need this so I stopped by the side of the road to wait. A few minutes later about five other riders walked around the corner and we all laughed and laughed about how ridiculous the whole day had been. The truck was along within minutes and we all stood there with both thumbs down laughing hysterically.The climb in the truck was amazing with the most breathtaking views but there was no way we could have walked up it let along rode. We arrived in camp and I looked around to see the best spot with the most sun. The tent went up in minutes but the fly took a bit longer as the wind had come up quite a bit so it kept flying away. We then looked up to the pass and noticed the storm clouds which turned out not to be rain but heavy snow, most of the riders were still out there.

Over the next few hours people started to arrive in various states of repair. Many with grins on their faces and mountain bikes who said this was one of the best days of the whole trip but latterly with near hypothermia as they had been caught at the top in the storm. Mike came in frozen to the bone so we got him changed and wrapped in thick blankets inside the yurt we had hired. I cuddled up to him and rubbed his body until an hour or so later when his body warmed up. By which time the snow was falling in camp and most people had taken up the option of sleeping in the yurt or the house. Mike and I took some blankets into our tent and thought we would be OK. It took me 5 seconds to realise that two inches of snow on the tent was a bad idea, two people in a small tent was a bad idea and even with all our blankets sleeping in -5 was a bad idea. I moved inside and left Mike and extra blanket.

This proved to be a very good idea as Mike was as sick as he had ever been during the night at one point crawling on his stomach still with his sore knees to stick his head out under the fly to throw up, right next to the area where a dog had pissed on our tent. I had had a bad night and when I went to help Mike pack up I had never seen him in such a state. He stated categorically he had had enough and we were going home.It was freezing, I had already decided not to ride as the roads were worse than before and Mike was in no state to ride. We told Robert we would join him on his escape plan to Kashgar in China but had to get through one more desert camp before then. It was another miserable truck day but this time spent freezing wrapped in sleeping bags bumping along appalling roads. Apparently the Chinese government were paying to repair the road their trucks had broken up but the three year project was already into its second year and there was no way they were even a quarter done and not a centimetre of asphalt had been lain.

The camp that night was spectacular surrounded by hills covered in snow. Somehow they had found some wood and we had a roaring fire but still a freezing cold night. Mike was still talking of flying home from Kashgar but I decided to ignore him until he recovered but I have never seen him so low.The Chinese border went off without a hitch despite major worries about bike permits and general administrative issues. We had had reports that tandems were not allowed as it was illegal for two people to be on one bike, so we hid Doug and Gala’s on the roof of the truck and they rode our bikes through the border. The band of escapees to Kashgar had grown to 7 with interest from another ten, and we split into two groups one of whom got a local taxi for 100 Yuan each while we were screwed by our local representative who arranged a private taxi for 700 Yuan each!

We arrived in the Blue Sky Seafood Hotel and Restaurant extremely relieved but concerned that not one of the staff spoke any English. Tiffany came to the rescue and we checked into our rooms with the second most uncomfortable beds so far, it was like sleeping on a table top. We didn’t really care there was water, hot water at that, flushing loos and warmth. It took a long time for us both to leave the bathroom. The food in the hotel was good though more see food than sea food with two walls covered with pictures you just pointed to, there was also tanks of fish and lobsters though to add to your options. However as Kashgar must be one of the towns furthest away from the sea I wasn't sure fish was a good bet.

The next morning we were woken early by Robin to say we had to leave; there was no water in the hotel for four days so they had found us another hotel. Turned out to be a much better hotel with the best restaurant in town, John's Cafe on site, internet, travel agents, plus half a dozen or so independent cyclists and travellers all trying to outdo each other with their tales, not sure ours won. Mike was considerable healthier after his tummy troubles cleared up and several long showers but his knee was a worry as it had swollen up to twice its normal size. It was also bleeding and he had made a mess of the sheets overnight. It was more than a little embarrassing when we were checking out of the first hotel when they stopped us to show us and the rest of the lobby the blood stained sheets. Most people thought it was my blood until we pointed to Mike’s knees. They charged us extra for cleaning.We tried to clean his scabs as best we could but ended up at a chemist who whipped iodine, gauze, bandages and amoxicillin off the shelves to treat him. No prescription for the antibiotic. We showed them to various members of the group and had numerous suggestions from salt baths to doing nothing. When Elaine arrived today she said there was an infection but the Amoxicillin should clear that up and we should just keep it clean. He is in no pain and thinks he can still ride but we have two days to see if it clears up.

Kashgar is such a contrast to the Stans. So many people for a start and so loud. I am listening to loud exhortations and music from afar as we speak and they have been going on since early this morning. We are on Beijing time with is 7 hours head of the UK, which means talking to the kids during the day is next to impossible but also there is a conflict with local Kashgar time where people want to start their day when the sun comes up 2 hours earlier than Beijing. There is everything you need here with hundreds of clothes shops which we are all scouring as most have not brought enough warm clothes. We found a clothes/camping store and a fantastic bike shop with all the top parts brands. In contrast there is the China we expected: tens of dozens of children erupting on the streets for lunch, food courts full of noise as people get their lunch cooked fresh in front of them, unmentionable animal parts available to eat, a man making fresh noodles by thrashing them by hand onto a well worn chopping board. There are also working ATM machines so we don’t have to get our money from a man on the corner working out of his car any more.

Some of the group arrived a day early some cycling in the last 60K rather than camp on a dry river bed and we are too together tonight for a party to say goodbye to some and welcome others. It had been a really tough period for both of us.