Day 221 (China): past Mingfen - serious nowhereland (lots of people at the cemetery)

daily distance: 152km
total distance: 12,681km
riding time: 8h

I had an early start after a night not far from the cemetery. Early on there were people going back and forth from the cemetery and what turned out to be a road to a little village further on and out of sight. I had been wondering whether anyone would come to the little shed that I was lying outside of every now and again, but no one did. Good thing … and unless someone really wanted to look for me they wouldn’t have been able to see me anyway.

Here are some impressions of the cemetery.

It was nothing short of a glorious morning ride … the wind in my back and the sun out. Best of all, the atrocious road from before Mingfen had not come back, but remained a pristine black line in the desert. It was great.

It was also not as monotonous as before Mingfen. A surprising number of trees and sand dunes made for some good scenery.

And the road was no longer busy at all. If I had 30 cars passing me or coming at me all day that would be a good guess I suppose. The wind changed again in the afternoon, but not as ferocious as on other days.

The markers lent themselves to some other thoughts … I will be here this year:

And I am really enjoying myself right this moment …

For dinner I had pasta and some melon to wash it down - and then watched the stars a bit before turning in, tucked behind the dunes and out of sight of everyone.