Day 241 (China): where G70 and G312 meet again after that one tunnel - Xian (cold nights, nice priests)

daily distance: 140km
total distance: 14,240km
riding time: 8-9h 

So, for the last few nights I have been saying that the nights were cold. This one was really, really cold. The night was OK, but the morning saw this …

It wasn’t nice. The site was in the shade which didn’t make things much better and the shoe that had gotten stuck in the mud last night was frozen. My shoes being leather this wasn’t a good thing. What to do? The sandals weren’t good enough for the temperatures. It was good that I had wiped the shoes clean last night and so I stuck the shoe under my jacket while packing up and warmed it up to make the leather more pliable. It worked and without cracking the leather things went from there.

The tent was wet though - or rather full of frost as I packed it up. I tried to get most of it off, but there was still plenty of moisture on the inside left. The inner tent had a good crust of ice on it - not sure what I could have done to prevent it.

So I set out in the freezing temperatures, it was now -12C as I was heading up the hill. Which was good because it meant that I could warm up without a downhill to contend with. After a period in the shade I got into the sun and found that the spot that I had chosen had been the best among bad ones as the valley was narrowing considerably and no real space to stay for the night.

The remainder of the day was warmish then. After getting over the climb with lots of nasty traffic and bumpy roads I passed a series of towns as I was heading to Xian. The street signs were fun to follow …

I had had no intention of getting there given the slow morning. But then it became apparent that Xian was within reach and Xianyang beforehand was another metropolis meaning that I really didn’t have a chance to camp anywhere and may as well run things in.

It would be a close call. But then I saw a church in the distance and as I was approaching I couldn’t resist to check it out. I was given a quick tour by the priest, followed by some apples and coffee. It was time for me to head out though if I wanted to have a chance to make it to Xian. It would now be an even closer call. But it was well worth it.

Then the maelstrom of the big cities started and you sort of get sucked in … unless of course another spoke goes bust in the process. I was doing well in terms of daylight when another spoke gave up. This time I fixed things up within about 10-15 minutes and was back on the road now racing … but of course it was futile. I took this when I was still 20km out - and I was supposed to be really close already.

But: good news … despite the darkness I managed to get into Xian amidst the traffic and lots of other cyclists and found a hotel within 5 minutes that would take foreigners in. It wasn’t any of the hotels that I had been told about (one of them was indeed hard to find), but the place I am in has plenty of room and a good hot shower.

The first thing that struck me about Xian (apart from the huge walls surrounding the city) wa the plethora of hairdressers. More about Xian tomorrow. The idea to make it all the way was to rest for a couple of days in one place, drying things out and not worrying about finding a new place. It worked out in the end though I do need the break now.

Note: I have been able to access flickr again, but still can’t access the larger size pictures that I used to post. For the time being, this is the best I can do. If you click on the pictures, you will get to the larger sizes. Thanks for bearing with me.