Day 116 - cycling from Dege to half-way up the Que Er Shan pass

Start: Dege, Sichuan, China
End: Road maintenance hut, half-way up the Que Er Shan (aka Qiaoershan, Cho La) pass, Sichuan, China
Distance: 51km
Time: 4'10"
Avg: 12.1 k/h
Max: 31 k/h
Total: 9807 km
Total riding days: 116
Riding hours: 1210 - 1700

The road out of Dege climbs gently through a gorge. It is the G317, the northern branch of the Sichuan-Tibet highway, and is mostly pretty well surfaced.

Towards the end of the day the road begins to climb out of the valley, switchbacking towards the pass. A convoy of police SUVs F1 it down the road, dashing from a lunchtime knees-up in Manigango trying to make it back to Dege in time for dinner, perhaps? They nearly knock me off the road, in any case. And off the mountain, too, for that matter.

The woman at the road maintenance hut persuades me to call it a day. Perhaps not a bad thing because a blizzard is coming from up the valley. I get a hot dinner and a bed for the night.

A Tibetan trucker stops in for hot water to fill up his jam-jar teacup. He mouths off about the Chinese government and says things will be better when HH the DL is restored.

The Han couple at the road hut take it on the chin.

Someone nicked me feet.

The post makes it through.

The road hut below the Que Er Shan pass (51 km from Dege). Friendly folk there.