Dongyu Folk Village and Sihai; A taste of the mountains

Random somewhere (maybe Dongyu Folk Village)

Brrrrrr

The day started with sleet, continued with sleet and ended in showers. 4 layers on top, 3 layers on the legs, 2 layers of gloves and booties over our shoes. To our surprise we entered the Miyun Grand Canyon, Longyunshan and Yunmengshan Scenic Areas. Unbeknown to us we were about to encounter massive hill climbs through spectacular rocky mountains. It was awesome. And freezing. The climbs were nicely broken up by tunnels and the occasional descent.

Let the mountains begin

We ended up staying at a local rural house with no shower and shared a single toilet with the owners.  With frozen fingers, frozen toes and tired bodies we confided in each other that perhaps this wasn’t quite the adventure we had envisaged. Maybe a second round of China in May/June wasn’t for us. China had always just been a gateway to Mongolia anyway. We cranked the heat pump to 30 degrees most of the night and while we were wrapped up in blankets and sleeping bags the owners cooked an amazing dinner and brought it through to us. Incredibly friendly. Heading off to bed warm and with full bellies, we reflected that it was an epic day... in hindsight.

Cosy and well fed

Sihai

As per law, we tried registering our previous nights rural accommodation with local police in Luilimiao, but they didn’t know what we were on about and we were heading out of their district so they weren’t that interested anyway. We bumped into some local Saturday riders (an Aussie, African, Spanish and couple of Chinese), that were out for the day from Beijing, riding through the same way as us for the first section. It was great to speak English to someone! After taking our turn off we proceeded to climb to 1060m through snowy roads then descended with as many layers as you could fit on. At the bottom of the descent we rode on to find Sihai. After Calvin had a well earned quick nap we climbed a wee hill to a tower of the Great Wall. We ordered a massive dinner once again but got to order some delicious food, although we accidently got a 2L bottle of Sprite. Maybe that’s okay after a massive day of mountains.

More brrrrrr

We attempted to register with the police once again and after much confusion from the police they took a few of our details. Three hours later we think they worked out what they were meant to do as we got a knock on our door asking if we can supply our mobile number to them. It does seem a little bit Big Brother like but that’s just the way it is. Nothing to hide so nothing to worry about, and to some extent it feels good to know that the police are aware you are around. Are we converting?