Tibet and a few miles closer to Everest

Location:	Ger, Tibet
Mileage:	8,160

The next ten days of the ride is very significant, with Tibet, Everest Base Camp and Lhasa all on the itinerary. Although there are a few foreign companies flying riders into Lhasa for a week’s ride in the area on local bikes, it’s still rare for large groups of foreign bikes to achieve this section of the ride. There is four days riding to get to the next town of any significance – Ger (Ali). In between is very little and I warn the group that they have a four day wait for a hot shower. But they are all pumped up for this section of the ride – it’s the heart of what this London to Beijing trip is about.

We leave Kashgar early morning to Mazar. Mazar is a tiny collection of ramshackle corrugated iron and cardboard buildings on a junction. I know that no matter how basic we have had to go through Central Asia, this place will take the award for the lowest point of accommodation, but the freshest duck. The poor little buggers are expertly swiped off the street by their wings for tea by our hosts, necks broken and thrown in the pot. We need to eat and this is all there is. 

Pic:  Mazar - feels like the end of the world!

From Mazar, it’s on to Reed Willow Beach (never has a name been so unrepresentative of a place), then to Duoma. The riding is hard. There’s a lot of road construction working going on and plenty of sand pits to catch riders out. But each day brings us to the goal of Everest.