Day 7 - Longie - 58 kms

Well slept and praying for a day without yesterdays heat we prepared to set off for our 2nd cycle day.
Jacquie was clearly in no condition to ride so settled for the role of chief group photographer while Andrew looked the part with his newly provided (right sized) Trek !
Under way at the more respectable hour of 8.30 the day was thankfully overcast bringing initially much cooler conditions - our riding bliss continued only though for 5 kms before a series of consecutive climbs took us out of the valley for terrific views of the countryside and the gallons of sweat we'd (read me) left behind !

The descent to lunch following (10 kms) was a stunner - for those willing to risk going fast there was a really good chance of being the first Chinese bicycling astronaut or even coming to rest in the back of a Chinese  piggery truck coming around the corner !
Safely down we cycled to our lunch stop which brought us up close and personal to China rural style - our meal was prepared only 5 metres away from an open air butcher shop while many of the minority tribe townsfolk stared at us in our designer clad Lycra and various body shapes !
In fact when arriving I interpreted one group looking at Andrew saying - "have a look at how tall this guy is" then turning to me and simply laughing !

Lunch done we walked the main street, a veritable open air market containing all sorts of amazing things from craft to food to penned animals to an open air dentist and even some guy engaging in cupping blood from the arm of a willing participant using a blood suctioning device !

Our climbing wasn't yet done and our last uphill of 9  kms included a really a sharp 2 km segment rewarded though by huge slab of water melon before our final descent into the town of Longie for the night

Only 4 stories to carry the bags today and a place that sold cold beer only 100 meters down the road -  what more could you want !