The Long Road Home

The detailed route has been worked out for Part 1 (China to Kyrgyzstan). For Part 2 (Kyrgyzstan to UK), the detailed route planning is still in progress. The numbers of days for each section are shown are based on riding ave 80km per day. The number of days available between mid April and end Aug is less than the number of days that would be required to ride all sections. In addition, some places (eg Turkmenistan) to visa-related constraints. To keep up with the timetable, and overcome the a few visa-related issues, around 20% of the sections will therefore have to be done by bus/train. Exactly which sections will be by bus/train will be determined later, and in some cases sorted out on the ground in line with local conditions as they emerge. I will try and keep to start and end dates of each section as noted below. This page gives notes on the route at high level, with dates and some possible jump-on and-off points for people joining me. The info is collated from books, road atlases, maps, guides, websites, gazetters etc mainly in Chinese and English. A detailed day-by-day itinerary is available (not on the site - ask me direct)

Part 1: China to Kyrgyzstan: Mid April to end June This section passes through China’s Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang provinces, then goes over Mountains of Heaven into Kyrgyzstan.

A. HK to Wuzhou 5 days 387k April 10th-15th Via Zhaoqing, craggy limestone rock formations. Wuzhou developed as a trading town in 18th C.

B. Wuzhou to Guiyang 14 days 1060 k (Aiport at Wuzhou, or coach from HK, Guiyang Airport. Flights to HK Tues Fri Sat ) April 15th-29th

From Wuzhou head north through Yangshuo and Guilin with gorgeous limestone scenery, to Longsheng and into the mountains with hot springs. The route goes through areas lived in by Dong, Zhuang, Yao and Miao minorities, with mountain sides terraced for rice fields. The villages have drum towers, traditional wooden structures, theatre stages, and ‘wind and rain towers’.

C. Guiyang to CHengdu. 863 km. 9 days. April 30th to May 9th. Guiyang Airport flights from HK.

D. CHengdu to Lanzhou 1094km - 13 days. May 9th to 23rd Starts at Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, famous for silk, and great teahouses. Following the Minjiang River, the route heads through northern Sichuan, with its dense alpine forests, and wide grasslands. It passes Songpan, a half Tibetan town with old wooden buildings and ancient gates of the walled city. It then passes the Jiuzhaigou Natural Reserve a gorgeous heavily forested alpine valley with dazzling lakes, and surrounded by snowy peaks, home to golden monkey and panda, with Tibetan villages, Bon prayer flags and prayer wheels. This area is home to Aba Tibetan and Qiang peoples. The route climbs gradually out of the Yangtse River Basin and onto the Tibetan Plateau to 3,000m. This section roads are not paved, and pass Tibetan nomad camps on the treeless plateau herding their yaks. Around Zoige and Langmu Monastery is territory of Goloks, nomads who speak own Tibetan dialect. Meadows speckled with their black and white tents, romaing yaks. From Zoige, where there is a Tibetan temple, the route goes to Xiahe, home of the Labrang Tibetan Yellow Sect Monastery, and then mostly downhill to the Muslim community of Linxia. The section ends at Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu Province, in north central China on the upper reaches of the Yellow River.

E. From Lanzhou to Kashgar and over Mountains of Heaven to Bishkek, Kyrgzstan. May 23rd to June 22nd. Bishkek has flights to London. Either:

Northern silk road: 3180km 37 days via Jiayuguan, Dunhuang, Turpan. This is a barren landscape, with Buddhist cave temples scattered all the way through Gansu and Xinjiang, and nomadic pastoral peope, such as Kazakhs, and also Hui, Mongols, Tibetans though Han Chinese dominate. The route passes Jiayuguan, an ancient Han outpost considered western boundary of empire, Kuche, with its Budhist caves, and Kashgar, the bazaar town with a fascinating mix of Uyghurs, Tajiks, Kyrgyz, Uzbeks etc.

Or: Southern silk road via Xining, Hotan, Yarkand (Shache), to Kashgar. On this southern side of the Taklimakan desert, Uighurs still dominate in poplar-lined villages. More remote than the north route, this road goes between the desert sands and the Pamir and Kunlun mountains. It passes Xining, the only large city in Qinghai, Qinghai Lake, a breeding ground for geese, gulls and cranes, to Khotan (Hetian, Hotan) with its huge Sunday market for silk, carpets and jade. The route then follows a ring of ancient cities, some like Niya, Miran and Yotkan now encroached by sand; others still important Uighur centres, such as Yarkand, the end of major trade route from British India, and Khotan, to Kashgar.

Finally whether the south or the north branch of the silk road is taken, the route passes from Kashgar into Kyrgyzstan, Past Lake Issyk Kul, up Shoestring Gorge to Bishkek.

Part 2: Kyrgyzstan to London July to August (detail not fully done)

A: Bishkek to Baku 13 days July 1st to 13th The route passes over the Kyrgyz Alatau mountain range past Toktogul reservoir into Uzbekistan, and stops at Tashkent, then by truck (thanks Stantours) through Turkmenistan to Caspian sea coast, from where ferry to Baku capital of Azerbaijan.

B: Baku to Istanbul 2025k 25 days July 14th to Aug 7th The route passes from Baku to Tblisi in Georgia, and then into northeastern Turkey, via Trabzon along the Black Sea coast to Istanbul.

C: Istanbul to London 2200k

The route plan passes through Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany and Holland.