The first few days of this mammouth trip have been quite something. Baking hot sun and pouring rain, flat roads and mudbaths, industrial hell-holes and cultural relics.

The amount of admin that had to be done before departure was quite staggering, all sorts of purchases to make and adjustments to be made to the bike, like boxes for extra fuel canisters and water tanks and the like.

The journey thus far has been somewhat frustrating, as one disadvantage of buying a brand new bike is that it has to be broken in. This means travelling relatively large distances at incredibly slow speeds. So the whole of the first day was spent at 40km/h (25mph) which is, by any stretch of the imagination, slow. Therefore, as you can imagine, the first day of 230km felt painfully slow. At the same time, however, it was the first time we were riding the bikes for real and so excitement more than outweighed frustration, even when maniacs in smart cars (as in posh cars, not as in little two seater jobbies, they haven't reached China yet) are flashing past your ears.

We had planned to spend the first night in Zhangjiakou, which we reached... eventually. The problem with China is that it is a country underconstruction. This means alot of roadworks. As such the road we were planning to take into town was closed. We therefore got lost. Luckily, however, we came across an incredibly friendly Chinese guy on a beutiful BMW cruiser, who took aliking to us. He decided that he would take us to Zhangjiakou. This was a god-send, as I'm not sure we would have found it without him. The way in did involve some interesting driving over mud roads with large stones in them, so a bit of off road practice, which would be needed for the next day. Not only did this Chinese fairy-godfather guide to our destination but he also found us a place to stay with a lockable underground carpark. Perfect.

The next day we had pencilled in to head to Datong. Datong is an interesting place, it produces 1/3 of all of China's coal, which seeing the vast majority of China's powerstations are coal fired is a vast amount. As such it has a more than industrial air. It also, however, has some extremely interesting cultural sights just outside it, so it seemed a logical place to stop.

The main problem was that when we woke up it was raining, which on a motorcycle can be more than a little miserable. We got extremely wet. We did, however, make relatively good progress, as after an oil change we could both travel at 50km/h, which after 40km/h actually felt quite fast. The scenery for much of the way was also really quite attractive.

Disaster struck, however, as we approached Datong. Once agin the road was closed. However, unlike before, there had been a large gap left open through which the vast majority of vehicles from coaches to trucks to motorbikes seemed to be passing, so we decided to follow them. As we turned a corner, however, we were confronted with one of the biggest building sights I have ever seen, through which these various vehicles were picking their way like ants. What is more, the rain had turned the site into a mud bath, a nightmare of liquid mud, stones, sand, gravel and construction equipment.

Driving through such an area was a challenge to say the least. Luckily our bikes performed extremely well, even loaded with all our heavy gear, as we would not have made it through otherwise. I, being less experienced than Pryd, manged to drop the bike. I simply used too much front brake and the bike just disappeared underneath me. So there I was in a mudbath in the industrial heart land of China standing with a striken bike between my legs.

But... the show must go on, and by now we had found another helpful Chinese bod, in a car this time, to take us to the train station which was near where we wanted to stay that night. So we picked up the bike and picked our way out of the bog.... into a flooded city centre.

Needles to say, when we eventually found our hotel we were tired and more than a little wet, but somhow still smiling. It was amazing that we still amnaged to have fun that day, and it is certianly an experience never to be forgotten, and one that I am sure has made us both better riders.

Waking up in Datong with a day off was a great feeling. Thinking that both the bikes and us needed a brake we took a bus tour of the two main sights Datong has to offer, the Hanging Monastery and the Yungong caves.

The Hanging temple was built in 8th century and is perched precariously on a rock fifty metres up a cliff. A great spectacle, but maybe not quite as spectacular as we expected.

The Yungong Caves, however, far exceeded expectations. They were stunning. Hundreds, if not thousands, of Buddhas carved into the rock some huge, some miniscule. It truly was breathtaking.

Next it is on to Inner Mongolia where the Mongolian Steppe awaits.....