The Last Passes
The ride from Shegar to Tingri was uneventful and even the checkpoint was a doddle despite our travel permits being out of date. As we passed the Everest Base Camp turn off, we couldn't quite feel bad for not going - knowing that the temperature up there would be absolutely freezing and anyway, when we got to Tingri we were more than satisfied with the fabulous views of Everest and the north face of Cho Oyo which we saw from a peculiar viewpoint the Chinese have built on a hill beside the town. The hill had already got a picturesque, ruined, orange-walled fort perched on top but unfortunately, the Chinese have built around it putting a maze of granite walls topped with a squared off banana of polished granite with a park logo and some Chinese writing - completely out of place. There was also a map which we think showed China, Tibet and the Southern border but the location of Everest and Cho Oyu were in the wrong location and the plaques were missing - better get that sorted before the 2008 Olympics!
As we were leaving Tingri the next morning we bumped into Benny and Mandy, two fellow cyclists from Germany who we'd originally met in Kashgar. They had been stuck there waiting for a part for their tandem and had eventually left Kashgar a couple of weeks after us, following a similar route through Tibet. It was great to exchange stories of the trips and swap information about other cyclists we all knew. This pleasantly delayed our departure but unfortunately allowed us to catch the afternoon headwind!
We knew there was a guesthouse 60km from Tingri so chose that over camping. As we reached the village were hailed from the side of the road by the staff of 'The Ritz' - a pound a bed establishment. Actually we had three beds, one each for us and one for the bikes (they didn't have to pay) in a mud brick room which though completely freezing when we went to bed warmed up quite nicely over night. The family were very friendly as were the local drinkers, continually topping up our green tea with hot water and taking great interest in our books, diaries and map. There was great excitement over the used tickets we had for various monasteries we'd visited though a fight nearly broke out once we'd said one lady could keep one as everyone wanted one including the men - and we only had three! We were amazed at how such simple a thing could cause such delight especially to the first lady we gave a ticket to and it made us feel a bit guilty that we'd just binned the second tickets without a thought apart from carrying less weight.
The next day we left the Ritz fuelled up with a delicious noodle and fried egg breakfast and set off for the two final 5000m passes, the La Lung (5124m) and the Tong La (5120m). After a fair bit of climbing we were rewarded by spectacular views of the Himalayas from Shishpagna and Lang tang all the way round towards the Solu Khumbu before we dropped off the Tibetan Plateau and began what is reportedly the world's longest descent.
Visit border cycling for more information on guided cycle trips.
