Siem Reap to Cachoengsao: 3 days cycling, 329.8km

Day 1: Siem Reap to Serei Saophoan

The first day out of Siem Reap we decided to cycle to Serei Saophoan, which is the last big town before the border with Thailand. Don’t underestimate how hard this day will be… we did!

The terrain is almost flat, there are a couple of areas of undulation, but for the most part it is flat. The problems we encountered were two fold:

1. Head winds – some of the worst of the journey and really soul destroying;
2. Heat – the head winds did little to cool us and we were absolutely broken at the end of the day.

There are plenty of places to camp, but we had run out of water and food with about 10km to go to Serei Saophoan so camping was not an option. We asked about accommodation in Preah Netr Preah but the locals told us that there was nothing, so don’t count on that. If the thought of cycling over 100km on the first day out of Siem Reap is too much to bear then you could cycle to Kralanh as there seemed to be accommodation there and it is only about 50km.

The Cambodian countryside was so dull and flat on the first day out of Siem Reap we were almost obliged to take this photo!

If you do get to Serei Saophoan then we could not recommend the Nasa hotel more highly. The rooms were excellent, the location is perfect, the staff friendly, they have a large room where you can safely leave your bike, and most importantly; two blocks down on the same side of the road there is an amazing restaurant… don’t miss the banana smoothies!

Day 2: Serei Saophoan to Sa Kaeo

The second day out we crossed the border; it should be noted that there is a LOT of accommodation on both sides of the border. We decided to crack on from the border to Sa Kaeo as we had seen a motel on Google earth, which is where we ended up staying (see map below for all accommodation locations).

The roadside motel that we stayed in at Sa Kaeo was perfect for cyclists on the road to Bangkok. It was a perfect distance for us, there was nothing else around, they served excellent food, and we didn’t have to lug our bags up flights of stairs.

Day 3: Sa Kaeo to Cachoengsao

We decided on pushing hard to Cachoengsao from Sa Kaeo so that we would have a short(ish) day into Bangkok. Again, check out our map to find the location of the hotel we stayed at. It was the best hotel we have stayed at, possibly on the entire journey. Everything about it was nice. Also, about 300-500m back up the road on the same side as the hotel there is an EXCELLENT restaurant.

This day was by far and away the worst for traffic. When you get onto the 304 (from the 359) the traffic reached new levels of madness. Some of the worst of the journey! There is a hard shoulder, but the road is full of trucks and they have a tendency to drive right on the white line or in some cases over the white line. They also have a strange habit of swerving onto the hard shoulder all the time, probably coinciding with checking their mobile phones. Perhaps we were being a little precious, we are not too sure, but in the forefront of our minds all day was the thought that this is the road where Peter Root and Mary Thompson (of twoonfourwheels fame) were tragically killed whilst they were #LTD… it is food for thought that is for sure.

In Cachoengsao we asked the super nice owner of the hotel we were staying in to recommend a place to eat. It was about 300m back up the road and it was AMAZING!

Cachoengsao to Bangkok: 1 day cycling, 72.4km

This was a relatively short day with the worst of the cycling coming first thing in the morning when we were still on the 304. Thankfully, if you follow the route we took you will turn off the 304 fairly quickly.

Note: If you zoom in on our Cycling into (and out of) Bangkok map you should see a detailed route marked out. We really recommend this route as it takes in a lot of back roads which are both quiet and beautiful.

The following show a few photos of what to expect on the final push into Bangkok…

Back road into Bangkok.

Peace and tranquility on the road to Bangkok… before the relative madness!

A nice wide hard shoulder for some of the way.

We thought we had lost our minds…

Although the traffic got a lot thicker it never got very angry. We found the drivers to be very aware of us.

Bangkok to Samut Songkhram: 1 Day, 84.3km

We left our hotel at 0600 in an attempt to avoid the traffic; to some extent this worked. We hugged the eastern bank of the river, passing by the Royal Palace, through some markets, and over the Phra Pokklao Rd bridge. The road on the west side of the river occasionally had cycle lanes, but these were often blocked by parked cars etc… Even at 0600 the roads on the west side of the river were heaving.

We made our way to Samut Songkhram; if you follow our map you will see where we cycled and where we stayed. We thoroughly recommend the accommodation in Samut Songkhram; really, really kind people and a super location.

The following show a few photos of what to expect on the day out of Bangkok.

The quiet roads leaving Bangkok (at 0600). This is the Royal Palace!

The early morning departure took us through an exciting market just before the Phra Pokklao Rd bridge.

Cycle lanes… not too bad at all.

Traffic thickens on the way out, but it is never aggressive.

Finally, with Bangkok behind us it was hard shoulder all the way!

First night out of Bangkok in Samut Songkhram. Really, really recommend this place; a beautiful camping spot right on a river!

More cycle lanes on the way to Cha-am :)

View Cycling into (and out of) Bangkok in a larger map
Note: Clicking on the markers will bring up the related photo.

The following table outlines distances etc… for what we did.

Please let us know if you find this useful by commenting on the page, similarly, if information here is out-of-date please let us know and we will do our best to update it.

Good luck!

1. Lanzhou to Chengdu – 1,140.7km in 9 days;
2. Chengdu to Jinning (just south of Kunming) – 1,012.3km in 9 days;
3. Jinning to Laos border – 728.9km in 8 days.

Lanzhou to Chengdu

This can be broken down further into two sections:

1. Lanzhou to Longnan (AKA Wudu) – 467.5km in 4 days

View from the road out of Lanzhou.

We based our cycling on a blog entry by Reuben Ferguson, which outlines this section; the following are some additional notes that you may find useful when planning your journey…

a) For about 20km after Minxian you climb gently and then slightly more than gently to the village of Mazichuanxiang; from here it is literally a 50km downhill all the way to Tanchang, which took us a little over two hours. Of course this timing is dependant on a number of things, the key here is that it is downhill (and spectacular);

b) The Tanchang to Longnan section is entirely downhill; it is not out of the realms of possibility that we could have cycled Minxian to Longnan in one day given the overall downhill nature of the road.

This section took us four days and that included the second day being almost entirely on gravel due to roadworks.

We believe that if you were really against the clock you could do this in three days without too much effort. If you were to think of doing this then you would need to get to Minxian for the second evening. To make this possible you would probably have to push past Lintao on day one. There are ample places to wild camp past Lintao as you approach the summit of the climb, from here it would be a short up-and-over and then one more up-and-over to Minxian (Note: had we known this we would have attempted it).

The road leading up to the peak on day two out of Lanzhou.

2. Longnan (AKA Wudu) to Chengdu – 673.2km in 5 days

We followed the G212 until near the city of Guangyuan and then took the G108 all the way to Chengdu.

For this section we could not find any up to date information on the route we planned to take; the following are the notes we made…

Day One – Longnan to Wenxian area (136.4km):
The first 70km of the day continue down the same river valley as you have followed since just out of Minxian, it is all downhill;
The road turns away from the river and you are presented with beautifully quiet roads and a gradual uphill for 10km;
At 80km the day turned nasty and there is the best part of 30km uphill, mostly very difficult;
At the top of the hill the views of the next valley are stunning and there is a 24km downhill stretch (aggressively downhill);
From here it is an easy run on a gradual downhill all the way to Wenxian.

Note: the locals we had dinner with in Longnan said it was not possible to cycle to Wenxian in a day, but we found there was plenty of time to spare and we had the unfortunate experience of having about 20km of the brutal uphill on gravel.

Switchbacks between Longnan (Wudu) and Wenxian.

Day Two – Wenxian (area) to Shazhouzhen (140.2km):
Once leaving Wenxian you spend roughly 90km next to a river/reservoir on an undulating road that at times takes you quite high away from the river;
From here you follow the river without the undulations until around when you cross the G5 Expressway (maybe 10km);
After crossing the G5 the road becomes steep but incredibly quiet, you enter Sichuan and the climbing continues for some time before a steep downhill to the nice relaxing town of Shazhouzhen.

You will pass this damn en route to leaving Gansu.

Day Three – Shazhouzhen to Chaoshou (a “town” near Pu’an; 120.2km):
The first 50km are a lot like the first 90km the day before. You follow a large reservoir in quite undulating conditions;
The road flattens out all the way to Jiange and you join the G108 at some point on this stretch;
From Jiange the road takes you into quite mountainous terrain where you spend the rest of the day going up and down hills/mountains.

Notes:
1. We found that leaving Jiange was very busy, however this only lasted until a large tourist attraction out of town and then the road became incredibly quiet and great for cycling (even given the up and down nature of it);

2. There is a sign about 8km from Pu’an that indicates that the G108 veers left and that Pu’an is to the right, we took the left road, however you could take the right road into Pu’an because the next morning we had to cycle into Pu’an on a back road and then climb out of the town to meet the road that was indicated to the right the night before. There would definitely be accommodation in Pu’an; it is quite big.

Road out of Jiange.

Day Four – Chaoshou (a town near Pu’an) to Mianyang (146.5km):
The road is undulating in the extreme (and incredibly scenic) until you reach the city of Zitong. We stopped here for lunch on the outskirts and then made our way into Mianyang;
The road from Zitong to Mianyang is flatter, busier, and less appealing;
The city of Mianyang is huge; the biggest we passed through en route to Chengdu from Lanzhou.

Day Five – Mianyang to Chengdu (129.9km):
There is not a lot to say about this part of the ride; it was fairly flat, had a wide shoulder, and is particularly dull;
Note: We cycled around the town of Deyang because it had signs to Chengdu, however this did cost us 11km. Not sure if you cycle straight across the town it is much quicker, but it would certainly be shorter. On the positive side, the 11km detour was very peaceful and we had our own cycle lane the entire way ☺

Chengdu to Jinning

This can be broken down further into three sections, based entirely on the excellent instructions that Peter Jacobsen provided Chris Pountney with (on crazyguyonabike):

1. Chengdu to Ludian – 568km in 5 days

Read this first.

Aside from the fact we started from Chengdu (not Dujian Yang where Chris was starting from) we followed these instructions to the letter, except for where we stayed.

Day One – we managed to make it all the way to Wutong Bridge, which had plenty of accommodation. The road is perfectly straight for about 60km out of Chengdu then takes you on a small mountain road and then it is rolling all the way to Wutong Bridge;

New road out of Chengdu.

Day Two – you pass through a tunnel at the top of a big climb. The tunnel is almost 4km long, however it was one of the better tunnels we have cycled in (and is in the downhill direction). We did not make it to the second tunnel that day but instead decided to stay in the small village of Shanglongyan (there is accommodation on the left just before you reach a fork in the road);

Tunnel at top of climb. It was not to bad for us, but that was probably due to the fact one lane was closed.

Day Three – we managed to make it to the small village of Xiang Yang, which Peter observes is at the foot of quite a tasty climb. This was a great little village and doing the climb the following morning (as Peter suggested) was nowhere near as bad as it could have been the day before, a great suggestion;

Day Four – It would be possible to cycle all the way to Ludian on the fourth day, but we decided to break it up and stay in the hilltop village of Daguan; it is a very nasty climb to the top but has great views and good restaurants;

View from Daguan hotel

Day Five – was an easy cycle into Ludian

2. Ludian to Yanglin – 336.5km in 3 days

Read this first.

Day One – was basically a long downhill (rather bad road works) for 40-odd kms, then an uphill for 30-odd kms, and then a great downhill all the way to the Yangzi and Jintang;
Accommodation in Jintang was easy to find; just turn right at the bottom of the hill and head about 200m into town and ask someone;

Peter mentions the village of Laodian – we stopped here for lunch and you could definitely stay here if you wanted to break the climb up as we ate in the restaurant of what looked like a nice hotel;

The village of Laodian. We stopped for an excellent lunch at this hotel.

Day Two – was quite tedious with a lot of up and down before one last big uphill. You will know when that uphill has passed because there is a short plateau and then good downhill and about 25-odd kms of flat before one last kick up into the city;

Day Three – starts off very hard. The climb took us over four hours, but you are rewarded at the top with a great services area where you can pick up a lot of great food;

Excellent food stop at top of first climb.

Don’t get too excited by Peter’s comments about the road flattening out. Yes it does flatten out compared to the morning climb, but we still found it quite tough.

3.Yanglin to Jinning – 107.8km in 1 day

Read this first.

These instructions are spot-on!

Notes:
1. We found the road to either be a complete mess or and amazing surface, there was no in between. Fingers crossed that the complete mess has been minimised by now;

Part of the muddy road around Kunming.

In complete contrast to the mud you have quite a bit of excellent road as well.

2. In Jinning we had to go to five hotels before we were allowed to stay. If you are planning on staying in the town then I would recommend taking a look at our map below and staying at the hotel we did (to save yourself the hassle). We paid 88Yuan;

3. In Peter’s instructions for the last part of the #chinachallenge (here) you will see that he mentions the city of Yuxi. We think we could have made it all the way to Yuxi instead of stopping in Jinning. It is a good road and a lot of it is down hill. This would certainly put you in a really good place for the final section (which is the hardest thing we have done to date).

3. Jinning to Laos border – 728.9km in 8 days

Read this first.

Word of warning… we could not find any ICBC or Bank of China banks on this part of the journey so had to do with the money we had, thankfully we had just enough.

We found Day One and Day Two to be extremely difficult. We are not too sure if it was the terrain or because we were becoming exhausted, but don’t be fooled into thinking they are easy. There is a lot of up and down to contend with, as well as real heat for the first time, and a lot of road works (which of course will improve this section over time)!

Day One we stayed in Dakaimencun, which is a small town situated just past a truly awful looking factory;

Day Two we stayed in Yuanjiang as we could not face the climb up to the lake as Peter suggested;

Flop house? We are not sure if this is the flop house, but it was a good restaurant. We think you could probably ask to stay here. We didn’t pass this until day 3.

Day Three started with what is quite a tough climb out of Yuanjiang (we never found the flop house that Peter mentions). The city of Mojiang is a great place to stop and relax (as we did). This said, if you have enough energy and are short on time there are places at 45, 64, and 85kms from Mojiang where you could stay. In an ideal world we would have pushed on but were absolutely exhausted by this point;

Day Four was a very easy day. We cycled about 85km to the small town of Dashaba and called it a day there;

Day Five started very early as we knew there was a tough climb involved. The first 30 odd kms continued on the flat (or slightly downhill) along the side of a river before we turned over the bridge (at 112km from Mojiang) and started the climb. The climb is very very tough in the heat. We ended up staying in Jiangcheng at a great hotel/hostel on the main road through town;

The bridge at 112km. From here it took over four hours of slog to get to the top. Make sure you have stocked up on food as there is nothing on this section.

Day Six we followed Peter’s excellent instructions and it was a great day on the bike. We also used these instructions (more for understanding the terrain). We stayed just out of the town of Manla in the following hotel/guest house (which also sells beer and food, but no water);

This is where we stayed and could not recommend it more highly. Super nice people, great food, comfortable rooms. Just beware the snakes out the back!

Day Seven was a tough day in the saddle (a lot of up and down) and we decided that we would stop in the town of Mengyuan;

Day Eight we cycled all the way to the border. The first part of the day we decided not to cycle on the Class 2 highway from Mengyuan to Mengla as there were signs indicating that no bicycles were allowed. Also the road appeared to be awfully busy. The road over the mountains was not too tough (we left early to avoid the heat) and it is genuinely stunning. The road runs along the edge of a National Park. We stopped for a second breakfast in Mengla and then it is a simple cycle to the border.

Road from Mengla to the border

Note: when arriving in Boten you can change money in the first “casino” you get to on the right hand side, just in front of a truly awful pink building. The rates are as good as inter-bank rates (i.e. the best you will ever find). This said, if you are staying in Boten you can generally use Yuan everywhere, and in fact a lot of places won’t take Laotian Kip. If we were cycling this again we would change the money and keep on cycling. Boten is an awful place and there are guest houses further down the road (no more than 10km); you will see them because they all have Beer Lao signs out the front.

Changing money can be done in this building.

In Laos you can identify guest houses by the all too familiar Beer Lao signs. This photo is less than 15km from the border, so an easy ride.

Where we stayed
The following map shows the locations of where we stayed each night. If you click on the blue markers then a photo will come up, which may help you identify where we stayed if you are tackling this challenge as well.

View Lanzhou to Laos in a larger map
Note: Clicking on the markers will bring up the related photo

The following table outlines distances etc… for what we did.

Please let us know if you find this useful by commenting on the page, similarly, if information here is out-of-date please let us know and we will do our best to update it.

Good luck!

The Plan of Action
Through poor planning we were only able to secure a 30-day visa for China (we think that is pretty much the norm now if you obtain the visa outside of your home country), and even that required a great effort (read here). With this in mind we made a plan (based on this excellent blog) to cycle at least 100km per day so that we could reach Lanzhou in 26 days and have enough time to secure a second visa (or get out of China) before our 30 days was up. For every km we did over 100km we would bank it and after accumulating enough we would take a day off to rest. Alternatively if we cycled less than 100km we would be in the red (so to speak) and have to make it up another day.

The Roads Cycled
As you leave the Kazakhstan border post (where we started our China odometer) you embark on a 7km loop to the China border post. The China border post is nothing like the Kazakhstan border post; it is new, orderly, and things just work. On leaving the Chinese border post we cycled down the main road of Khorgas, stopping at a bank for money (there are a lot of banks on this road but only ICBC and Bank of China seem to work for us), and lunch before cycling straight on to the G30.

To cycle onto the G30 you have to cycle past a police checkpoint, but they did not bother even looking at us. It is not until later that you will notice the No Cycling signs. We followed the G30 all the way to Jiayuguan, with the odd detour to find accommodation or food (a total of 1878km).

The beginning of the G30 Expressway.

From Jiayuguan we cycled on the G312 for two and a half days. This took us through some stunning scenery and made for excellent camping. On the third day of cycling on the G312 we passed through the town of Shandan and then the road just stopped in a pile of rubble.

G312

At the Shandan pile of rubble there is conveniently an on ramp to the G30; there is a tollbooth here, but even more conveniently there is no No Cycling sign. We stayed on the G30 to the town of Yongchang, where we exited, stayed in an excellent hotel and never ventured back on the G30.

Shandan rubble (and back on to the G30).

From Yongchang to Lanzhou we used the G312. In some places, particularly the towns on the downhill stretch towards Lanzhou the road deteriorates quite badly, but in general we found it very good.

G312

Where we stayed
The following map shows the locations of where we stayed each night. If you click on the blue markers then a photo will come up, which may help you identify where we stayed if you are tackling this challenge as well.

View Khorgas to Lanzhou in a larger map
Note: Clicking on the markers will bring up the related photo

The following table outlines distances etc… for what we did.

Police
First things first, cycling on the G30 is frowned upon (technically illegal)! Almost every cycle tourist does it, which admittedly does not make it any less illegal, but there are, in a lot of places no other options (if you need to cycle).

We had three encounters with police officers:
1. On the first day two officers pulled up and asked us to turn around and cycle back down the expressway the wrong way so we could get to an off-ramp and then cycle on the G312 that runs next to the expressway. We pointed up the hill and suggested we would get off at the very next exit; they seemed happy enough with this. We got off at the next exit (about 10km up the road) and it immediately spat us straight back on to the G30! From this point on there were no alternative roads for 100s of kilometres;

2. We had unfortunate timing at a tollbooth whereby a police officer just so happened to be walking to a toilet break (or similar) when we passed by. He yelled at us in a very aggressive way and we genuinely thought it was the end of the road for us. He motioned to his phone and then showed us an image of a car crash and then yelled some more. He then let us go on our way. We both think he was just trying to scare/warn us of the dangers. He was actually a very nice man and gave a great smile when we thanked him and shook his hand;

3. On the border of Xinjiang and Gansu we were pulled over at a tollbooth and quizzed. We suspect they wanted to see our passports, but we played very dumb and they then took “selfies” with us and let us go on our way. Again, like the first two encounters, there were no alternative roads.

Punctures
We had 13 punctures in part one of the China Challenge; and given we had had only 7 punctures in the first 10,000km this seems to warrant a mention.

The G30 hard shoulder is littered with tyre blowouts from the huge number of trucks that ply the route. Presumably the blowouts are from cheap re-treads. In any case, almost every cycle tourist has issues here with punctures. Bring a lot of spare tubes and a lot of patches, and be prepared for the worst. It is beyond demoralising!

Typical metal shard.

Other Notes

Tollbooths:
First and foremost, you do not have to pay for the pleasure of cycling on the G30. Tollbooths are essentially a check point where they can ask you to leave the G30 (although in a lot of places there is no alternative road).

In Xinjiang the tollbooths are on the actual G30, so you need to pass through them at regular intervals. We tried to time it so that a truck would be at the window and we would sneak along side it and just pop out and be on our merry way. Twice we heard people shouting, but we ignored this, kept our heads down and carried on. Our guess is that they were going to growl us for being on the G30 and then let us go anyway (they did not pursue us).

In Gansu the tollbooths are not on the G30, they are located on the on-ramps and off-ramps. This essentially means that you could cycle all the way across Gansu on the G30 and never have to pass through one.

Food and Water:
In most places it was fairly easy to find food and water, the one exception being between Turpan and Hami, particularly on the second day. There are a number of service areas under construction, which can be quite frustrating if you are pinning your hopes on the “next one” and it is not open. We would recommend carrying enough food and water for two (or three) days out of Turpan.
We have heard of other cyclists being found wanting on this stretch as well.

Food sign (although strangely they don’t use chop sticks in the sign).

More times than I care to remember we came a service area that was still under construction!

Please let us know if you find this useful by commenting on the page, similarly, if information here is out-of-date please let us know and we will do our best to update it.

Good luck!

1. Staying at the Caspian Sea Hostel in Baku gave us access to a lady who knows the lady at the all important ticket office…
a. She is the daughter of the owner and can speak a little English;
b. She will call the lady at the ticket office and let you know the status of the ships. The status is essentially binary… there is a ship today, or there is not a ship today (that is about as much information as you will get);
c. Be patient, if she says there is no ship then hang tight and hassle her on the morrow;
d.If she says there is a ship then go to number 3;

2. Because we were not 100% sure of what was going on we also obtained the phone number for the ticket office and then took that to the Four Seasons Hotel and asked the concierge there to call and double confirm what we had been told. They are super nice and were more than happy to help. They speak excellent English;

3. We went to the ticket office at the main ferry terminal, however they had no idea what we were talking about to start with (they speak Azeri and very broken English at best) and it took a lot of toing-and-froing and elevated levels of stress to get someone to eventually suggest that we needed to go out of town to an unknown door and see a lady about a ticket…
a. The ticket office resides slightly out of the main centre of Baku. We just showed a taxi driver a map and he drove us there and back for about £5;
b. If the ticket lady is not at the office just wait, she will turn up (ask around if you are nervous)

4. Once we had the all important ticket ($110USD for each ticket) we needed to make our way to the ship, which when we were there was not in Baku…
a. The departure terminal is about 70km from Baku and because our ship was leaving immediately we needed to get a taxi, which we did from outside the Four Seasons. The taxi took around 45 minutes and cost 50 Manat.

Notes:
1. The above could all change in the blink of an eye, so it is best to double check the latest information, but this should give you a good starting point;
2. Take enough food and water on the boat for at least two (possibly three) days. We did not have enough but got lucky in that the cook sold us some food (when the officers were not looking).

Bikes loaded into the taxi and we are off…

The following map highlights the locations described above:

View Cargo ship from Baku in a larger map

The Caspian Sea Hostel – where you will find the lady who knows the lady;
The Four Seasons Hotel – where you can use the concierge to double-check what you have been told (speak excellent English);
The Baku Ferry Terminal – where you DON’T want to go to get your ticket;
The Ticket Office – where you want to go to get your ticket;
The Ferry Terminal – where you will need to go to catch the boat (double check this with the ticket lady as it may change).

The ticket office is just outside this gate.

Katie rejoicing at having the tickets in her hands. The ticket office is through that door!

The ferry terminal at Alat (about 70km southish of Baku)

Boarding The Barda

Kazakhstan. Great Success!

Please let us know if you find this useful by commenting on the page, similarly, if information here is out-of-date please let us know and we will do our best to update it.

Good luck!

Finding shelter and supplies is much easier in this desert stretch than in the Beyneu to Nukus stretch!

This section was really tough for us, but somethings, like this sunrise made it worthwhile :)

1. From Khiva we cycled southwest out towards the town of Bagat. The road from Khiva to Bagat is not great, but improves after Bagat;

2. From Bagat we continued in a southwesterly direction (on a slightly improved road) until just before Balyqchi where we turned left (it is a large intersection that you should not miss), crossed the Amu Darya, and just followed the road all the way up to the A380;
2a. The road from the Amu Darya to the A380 is not great; so expect to lose some speed on this section;

Katie slipstreaming behind one of the many trucks on the road. This is heading north-east towards the A380 just after the turn-off prior to Balyqchi.

3. It is roughly 80km from Khiva to the turn off just before Balyqchi;

4. It is roughly 20km from the turn off to the A380;
4a. There would be opportunities to camp on this 20km stretch, but if you can make it to the A380 then the opportunities become more frequent;
4b. We picked up water and chocolate at a small shop just before we turned on to the A380;

This is in the northeasterly stretch towards the A380. That is a canal, presumably being fed from the Amu Darya.

5. From the A380 turn off, it is roughly 4km to a hotel. We did not stop at the hotel, but presumably they could register you if you were worried about that;

6. From the hotel it is roughly another 12km to four çayhanas;
6a. We stayed in the first çayhana (we enquired in all of them and only the first one would let us stay);
6b. We stayed for free in the çayhana; it had a simple menu of fish and eggs; it had a (very) simple shop, but certainly enough to buy some chocolate, bread, and coffee. The man running the place was super nice and let us keep our bikes inside next to where we slept;
6c. We covered just under 115km on our first day from Khiva and had time to spare;

Inside the çayhana where we stayed.

7. It is roughly 60km from where we slept to the next çayhana, the road is excellent, and if it hadn’t been for the immense cold and head wind I am sure this would have been a wonderful ride;

It was so cold that Katie had to cycle without her glasses as they were always fogged up. The smile belies how tough it actually was.

8. From the çayhana it is a further 40km to a police check point; there is a small shop there, that sells the most amazing cake we have had on our journey!
8a. We managed to stay in a local house just past the police checkpoint, however we would not recommend it. We got in, and got setup and then they asked us for money, after we had already agreed that it was not going to cost anything. There are plenty of opportunities for camping around here;
8b. The road is still excellent all the way to the police checkpoint;
8c. We covered just over 95km on our second day from Khiva and again we had time to spare;

The guy to the left was working in the shop selling cake. The guy to the right is the owner of the shop and he was the one who wanted money after we had agreed it was an “act of kindness”. They were pretty nice guys!

9. From the police check point it is roughly 25km to a çayhana; we did not go in but it looked large and there were a few trucks parked there. You could almost certainly get supplies, and stay.
9a. If we had known that this çayhana existed we would have pushed on from the police check point and stayed there;
9b. Somewhere between the police checkpoint and the above-mentioned çayhana the road deteriorates so your speed will drop. On the positive side, there is a lot of work going on to improve the road so it may be better by the time you cycle it ☺

10. It is a further 20km to a çayhana, we had breakfast here and it was excellent; you would almost certainly be able to stay here for free (super nice people);

The çayhana where we had breakfast (roughly 45km from the police checkpoint).

11. Roughly 40km further on is a very good çayhana where we had excellent Manti for lunch; there is also a basic shop here;

Very comfortable çayhana for lunch. There was also a shop here.

12. From the lunch çayhana it was a further 40km to Gazli. We stopped at the first çayhana we came to. It is just before the town on the left hand side of the road. This is where we spent our third night;
12a. It is worth stopping here just for their lagman (the best we had had up until that point in time);
12b. We stayed for free, and our bikes were allowed to come inside with us.
12c. Word of warning though, the older lady who runs the place is super nice, the younger lady was super nice, but tried to make us pay in the morning; we refused as it had been agreed it was free;
12d. We covered just over 125km on our third day from Khiva;

The road to Gazli is being upgraded. It was not too bad for us, but will be a lot better in the future.

Gazli çayhana that we stayed at.

13. From Gazli to Bukhara there are numerous çayhanas, and more being built;
13a. The last 20km or 30km into Bukhara are not the best for cycling as it is built up, the road deteriorates, and the driving becomes aggressive. Make sure you leave yourself plenty of time as it is quite stressful;
13b. We cycled just over 100km to get to Bukhara from Gazli.

As you can probably tell, we are pretty happy to have made it. This stretch was very difficult!

Khiva accommodation – we stayed at the Guest House Alibek, which is located just outside the western wall of the old town. Could not recommend this more highly. The breakfast was included and was excellent. Because it was low season in Khiva very few of the restaurants were opened so we ate at the Guest House Alibek every night for 20,000Som (for two of us). The dinners were excellent and well worth the money.

Bukhara accommodation – we stayed at the Sarrafon B&B (If you are using Google maps it is situated very close to the Sarrafon Mosque). This was also excellent. Breakfast is included (it is not quite as good as Hotel Alibek’s breakfast, but still very good). We also ate dinner here a couple of times for 40,000Som (for two of us). The dinners were absolutely enormous and perfect for cycle tourists. We considered them reasonably priced if you are getting a good rate for the Uzbek Som.

The following map shows many of the locations mentioned above:

View Khiva to Bukhara in a larger map
Note: Clicking on the blue markers will bring up the related photo

We found the following blogs useful, and the authors were always happy to help with any questions we had:

a). Journey to the east
b). Riding round – Adam has a lot of details about this route

Please let us know (via our Contact Us page) if you have any questions, we will answer them as soon as we can.

Happy cycling

1. The cycle from Beyneu to Akzhigit (the last town before the border) is roughly 60km;

Road out of Beyneu towards the Kazakh border

2. The town of Akzhigit is located on both sides of the main road, if you need supplies or shelter you need to enter the town on the left side of the main road (set back roughly 1km from the main road);

3. If you are only in need of supplies then the first two buildings on your right as you enter town are shops;

Akzhigit town entrance (the buildings on the right are the shops).

4. If you are in need of shelter then go past the shops and take the first right;

This mosque is on the corner where you need to turn right

5. Proceed down the road until you see the following shop on the left hand side;

Akzhigit shop

6. Ask the people in this shop for accommodation (it is out the back door of the shop). The eldest girl speaks reasonable English. Initially they asked for $50 USD for the night, but we paid just 3000 Tenge (basically no negotiations required, we just said we would not pay $50 USD but would happily pay 3000 Tenge and that was the end of the negotiations);

The excellent accommodation

7. The cycle to the border is roughly 25km. We have heard of people camping at the border and we are sure it would be fine (just not in the depths of winter);

Kazakhstan border

8. The border crossing is quite easy, but be prepared on the Uzbekistan side to list out the foreign currency you are taking into the country. You will need clean, crisp, new USD for changing money as there are basically no cash machines in the entire country. We managed to go to the bank in Nukus to get extra money out, but needed the help of our hotel manager (not a simple process). The border guards will also want to see any medicines you are carrying (we were prepared for this and the border crossing went very smoothly);

9. As you leave the border area you will be approached by someone selling Uzbek Som. We got a rate of 2500 and changed $100USD. We were certainly happy we did not change anymore as it is a very bad rate (better than bank rate, but worse than black market rate). Later in Uzbekistan we got rates of 3300, 3600, and 3800;

10. The first cayhana is roughly 20km from the Uzbekistan border (just past the first police check point), at the outskirts of the town Qaraqalpakstan. We stayed here for free;

Qaraqalpakstan cayhana

11. The next building of any note is 140km away just past the turn off to the town of Jasliq (well maybe 5km past the turn off). This cayhana is excellent. It has beds for $10 USD and you can pay in dollars as well. It also has a great selection of food (the plov was outstanding) and you can stock up on chocolate, bread, water, vodka, etc… at the shop there;

11b. You can register your stay here as well. This is important. You need to register at least every three nights in Uzbekistan and can be checked on exiting the country

Sign for Jasliq cayhana

Jasliq cayhan

12. The next place you are able to stay and resupply is the Bon Voyage cayhana, which is 130km from the Jasliq cayhana. The cost of a room here is $20 USD per person, they have wifi, you can pay in dollars, but they won’t register you. To be honest, the showers alone are worth the $20 USD, or at least we thought so at the time. We have also heard of people staying for free but sleeping in the actual cayhana;

12b. Like the Jasliq cayhana there is all manner of food and supplies to stock up on;

The bar at the Bon Voyage cayhana

The hotel associated with the Bon Voyage cayhana

13. Nukus is a further 140km, but once you reach Kungirot it will feel as though you are back in civilisation as there are farmers herding all manner of beast as well as frequent cayhanas;

The following map shows the locations of where we stayed each night on our journey:

View Beyneu to Nukus in a larger map
Note: Clicking on the blue markers will bring up the related photo

We found the following blogs useful, and the authors were always happy to help with any questions we had:

a). Journey to the east
b). Riding round – Adam has a lot of details about this route, as well as a “guide to Beyneu”

Please let us know (via our Contact Us page) if you have any questions, we will answer them as soon as we can.

Happy cycling

View Milestones in a larger map
Note: Clicking on the yellow cyclist, blue cyclists, or yellow spanners will bring up the related photo

OUR ROUTE

View Approaching Istanbul in a larger map

OUR NOTES
1. The night before the Turkish border we camped at the Sakar Hills campsite near Biser, a top drawer place that was only €10, had WiFi, showers, tables, and free power

2. Biser to Border: On the road from Biser to the border, we followed the signs to Svilengrad, as opposed to taking the opportunity to cycle directly towards Kapitan Andreevo. When we got to Svilengrad we picked up the new road that is being built and followed it all the way to the border. Large hard shoulder all the way

Example of the Svilengrad to Turkish border road

3. Border to Edirne: there is a large hard shoulder for most of the way and we had virtually no traffic. On entering Edirne, cross the bridge and head off up the tree lined street; do not follow the D100 all the way around as that goes to Greece.
Notes:
a) When you get to the top of the tree lined street you will hit the mosque (the one that I am talking about is absolutely unmistakable), you need to turn right here and it will take you out of the city.
b) There is a Carrefour just past the mosque on the road out of town for stocking up on supplies if necessary

4. Edirne to Kirklareli: there is mostly a large hard shoulder out of Edirne all the way to the turn off for the D020. Once turning off onto the D020 the hard shoulder is no longer!
Notes:
a) The D020 all the way to Kirklareli is undulating / rolling hills, with the occasional tough climb.
b) We had to deal with ridiculous head and cross winds that made the cycling slow and lethargic. Definitely factor the wind into your planning
c) We free camped just out of the village of Umulu, however, when we woke in the morning and made our way towards Kirklareli we spotted an ideal camping spot just short of the town of Inece. It is on the left before you descend into the town and has picnic tables; from where we were sitting (as we cycled past) it looked ideal!

Example of the D020 when you turn off the D100 just out of Edirne

Example of upgrade work on the D020 just out of Edirne. Not too sure how long it will be until this is completed, but it is certainly underway

5. Kirklareli to Saray: the road out of Kirklareli is incredible… for about 10kms. The road then turns into a single carriageway with little or no hard shoulder.
Notes:
a) The drivers were generally good
b) Savage, savage head winds. We made the mistake of taking our time having breakfast in Kirklareli; in hindsight we should have just cracked on as the wind did not really become a big issue until about 10am
c) Brutal hills, much worse than the Edirne to Kirklareli day, but there were fantastic views
d) We camped just shy of Saray, which turned out to be a mistake. We were surrounded by a pack of dogs all night and struggled to sleep. Had we known what lay beyond Saray we would have pushed on and camped there

The road out of Kirklareli is a very fine, wide road. It lasts for around 10km

Road after the road out of Kirklareli, all the way to Saray (and beyond)

6. Saray to Durusu: the road out of Saray is an undulating single carriageway that passes through the most incredible oak forest. We really wish we had cycled through Saray the day before and found somewhere out there to camp.
Notes:
a) The road from Saray to Subaşi was uneventful, and not memorable at all (aside from the wonderful oak forest). This probably means it was not as tough as we thought it would be, and the drivers were courteous
b) The road out of Subaşi is more like a six-lane motorway with no one on it, and this lasts for a very long time
c) There is an enormous hill just past Kizilcaali, but when you reach the top you are afforded views of the Black Sea
d) We cheated a little (in the spirit of camping etc.…) and on getting over the crest of the aforementioned hill we stopped at a hotel for the evening (about 5-10km from the top of the hill). It was beyond our budget, but it was an all you can eat buffet for dinner and breakfast, and it had a pool (it was too cold for us, but something to possibly consider in the summer months)

Example of the road out of Saray. We wish we had camped out on this road (and not had to deal with the packs of dogs)!

Road out of Subaşi. The road is like this (or a derivative of this) all the way to Kemerburgaz

7. Durusu to Kemerburgaz: the road is a large, busy, new motorway type road (it is not a motorway, but in a lot of countries it would be). There is plenty of room on the hard shoulder though, and we did not feel threatened by the numerous trucks at all.
Notes:
a) The road deteriorates a few times from what was described above, but for no more than 1km at a time
b) The road is again undulating, and there was a bit of wind, but not too much
c) Turning off the main road to Kemerburgaz was a shock to the system. The road (for about 1-2kms) is awful and super busy. It is single carriageway with a lot of trucks. It may be a shock to the system, but to avoid what is reputed to be hell on a bicycle, you need to turn off at Kemerburgaz. In fact, if there is anything you glean from this page it is turn off at Kemerburgaz!
d) When getting to a set of lights you need to turn right, this road is even busier, but we managed by waiting for the lights to and cycling as fast as we could and then pulling off when trucks started to come through. It is only like this for about 500m-1km.
e) There is a garden centre on the right; at this point you need to turn and head up a savage, savage hill. This is the road now for most of the way

This is the turn off you do not want to miss!

This is taken right outside the garden centre at Kemerburgaz. You need to turn left here and head up a savage hil

Example of the road from Kemerburgaz to Bahçeköy

8. Kemerburgaz to Bahçeköy: the road is a single carriageway, but is not too busy. What it is though is hilly, very very hilly.
Notes:
On arrival to Bahçeköy you need to turn right at the T-intersection to go directly into Istanbul (we turned left and cycled over to the Black Sea for an evening). We can’t comment on the road from Bahçeköy to the Bosphorus

The road along the Bosphorus is busy, but not too bad, and should not be feared. It should be respected, but definitely not feared.

Please contact us through our Contact Us page if you have any questions. We will answer them as soon as we have an internet connection.

Happy and safe cycling

From our experience, the above is a fairly typical conversation regarding our approach to training. In all honesty, it is incredibly difficult (read nigh on impossible) to train for a bicycle journey of this magnitude… cycling 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for a year to prepare, is in fact just undertaking the trip.

This may sound foolhardy (or foolish, or just downright arrogant), however, there has been a lot of consideration given to the training side of the journey.
The plan is that the European leg will (hopefully) prepare both the body and mind for the immense challenges that we are going to face in Asia, and beyond. Roughly, we are intending to cycle 60 km/day for the first couple of weeks, then 80 km/day (for a couple of weeks), and finally 100 km/day; this said, we don’t really have any idea and we will be taking each day as it comes.

Since we first purchased the bikes, we have managed to get out of London on a few short weekend trips (photos here). These trips have given us the chance to see if we actually enjoy cycle touring (thankfully it would appear that we do), test the setup of the bikes (seat height etc…), and to give us some much needed confidence for the up coming challenges.

For all of those of you who live in and around London, we could not recommend the areas we have cycled more highly, particularly the South Downs National Park…

View Training Routes in a larger map

This will also give you a good idea of our turtle like progress across the globe.

View Camping Locations in a larger map
Note: Clicking on the blue markers will bring up the related photo