From Lanzhou - on 23rd October

It does feel rather weird to have a birthday where no-one really knows this- and to be in this huge, bustling Chinese city in contrast to the vast, magnificent open spaces we have been riding through. So I am digging deep into my adaptability resources and doing my best to cope with the sensory overload. Thankyou for all the kind birthday greetings and blog comments - very much appreciated, I assure you.
For reasons known only in cyberspace - my blog has been out of operation for the past 10 days or so - and it seems today it wont accept photos, but we have had some wonderful times and sights which I will try to paint for you.

Chinese Harvest
We have had some of our best cycling days as we progressed from Jiayuguan to Wuwei. The fields we have passed through have been a hive of activity. Every man ,woman, child and beast has been involved in the autumn harvest. There have been piles of corn, haystacks, sugarbeets, green tea, cabbages, celery, flower seed heads, onions, herbs and a few unknown fruits and grains-all being lifted from the soil or processed from the plant. All this action with a backdrop of high snow covered peaks - huge to the south where Tibet lies, and smaller to the north. The millions of poplar trees are a rich yellow gold and interspursed we catch glimpses of deep red Chinese Maples. There is an urgency in the air to batton down the hatches before the onslaught of winter- and for very good reason. A few days ago we climbed up to a pass of 3030m in clear crisp, but very cold weather- and that evening the snow started to fall. Great excitement for me- but as we set of the next morning, with the snow falling, with 150km ahead- the mood was not so joyous. Riders came into lunch wet and frozen. I was on lunch duty - so after a few hot drinks, hot noodles, and sizzling fried eggs and bread - and the fact that a watery sun was attempting to break through- things looked up. Max, our young French Canadian got so cold that he stopped at a gas station, managed to get a pair of worker uniform pants and then bought gloves, and towels in which to wrap his feet - and he arrived, looking rather an odd apparition, but smiling smugly.

Our Last camping night
This was indeed an occassion. We had a magnificent site- far from the highway, so no rumbling trucks, and we were right up against remnants of the Great Wall, which stretched far into the distance east and west.
We had a massive bonfire on which did a few ceremonial burns - like the toilet shovel and greasy bike rags, but we also had procured a few marshmallows and a fair Chinese vintage of red wine.
I did an " Informal awards Ceremony"- a lot of fun and laughs and leg pulling but resulted in a good feeling of solidarity that we had made it this far.
I will miss the camping. I love the feeling of self sufficiency, and I am often filled with a great surge of well being.
But it is certainly getting cold now - and population pressure is noticable so I guess I will have to adapt to a shower every night and the city noises.