Shuifu to Zhaotong

< Day 55 Thursday 24th September 233 km (17228 km total)

A local road obstacle course with logs, falling rocks, muddy roads & waterfalls!

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So after yesterday's wasted 4 hours with China's finest, today we stuck to the provincial roads. This made for quite an entertaining, if somewhat damp, day.

Once out of the city we were treated to a riverside road full of twists & curves a nice ride for an hour or so, after which we stopped for an instant coffee (thoughtfully provided by our guide) by the roadside using my panniers as a table.

It also gave time for a quick photo, bunny ears courtesy of Russ, always there when you need him most ;-)

The next sequence of snaps show some of the obstacles we encountered on the road ....

A lorry loading bamboo poles, watch out when they swing them round the get onto the lorry as they reach right across the road!

Not sure exactly what was goung on with this next one ... A bit of lanscape gardening perhaps, but the pile of soul/muck covered half the road.

More logs, this time tree trunks ...

I dont recall a sgn warning of falling rocks, but there certainly were some - always remember to wear a helmet, though you would need an awfully big one to stop that rock!

How about some mud & water to liven things up a a bit? The traffic jam was caused by a small wagon that had got stock in a deep muddy puddle in front of the lorry.

At one pount on the opposite side of the river there were tower blocks of flats perched impossibly on the mountainside - they were still occupied dspite looking derelict. I certainly wouldnt like to live there.

More fallen rocks in our side of the river!

Judging from the state of the road, it looks like small landslips were a fairly regular occurance

The most entertaining part of the day was when we had to ride through a series of waterfalls that fell directly onto the road. 

The road surface here was cobbled, presumably to stop it being washed away. 

However, cobbles, mud & running water present quite a tricky surface when you only have two wheels, particularly when the water is also running down you neck!