With little over 8 weeks to go, I have had plenty of tasks to keep me busy! Here is a quick update.
1. I have finally worked out a rough route for the China leg. The plan is to pick my way through the quietest roads and off road cart tracks for the majority of the way to Beijing. China is undergoing a massive infrastructure upgrade with many new highways being built. The upside of this is the smaller roads now have less traffic giving me a safer road to walk.
2. We upgraded the failed part on the prototype cart 1.1 which proved to be a lot more successful. A lovely 2hr walk along the Wainuiomata coastline with a load of 80kg was both comfortable and surprisingly easy going. The path along the coast is a great combination of rutted tracks, sand, gravel and random rocks with the odd sprinkling of horse dung - very Mongolian I imagine! At the halfway mark I stopped for a coffee from a thermos and watched the spectacular sunset that was to be the backdrop for the walk back to my start point. In that moment I felt a great sense of excitement for the upcoming trip and sunsets yet to come, but also a feeling of calm confidence - everything is slowly coming together.
1. I have finally worked out a rough route for the China leg. The plan is to pick my way through the quietest roads and off road cart tracks for the majority of the way to Beijing. China is undergoing a massive infrastructure upgrade with many new highways being built. The upside of this is the smaller roads now have less traffic giving me a safer road to walk.
2. We upgraded the failed part on the prototype cart 1.1 which proved to be a lot more successful. A lovely 2hr walk along the Wainuiomata coastline with a load of 80kg was both comfortable and surprisingly easy going. The path along the coast is a great combination of rutted tracks, sand, gravel and random rocks with the odd sprinkling of horse dung - very Mongolian I imagine! At the halfway mark I stopped for a coffee from a thermos and watched the spectacular sunset that was to be the backdrop for the walk back to my start point. In that moment I felt a great sense of excitement for the upcoming trip and sunsets yet to come, but also a feeling of calm confidence - everything is slowly coming together.
3.Transporting the cart has now become an issue. The cart was always going to be a 2nd piece of luggage with the associated cost. The size restriction was however something I seemed to of overlooked. I assumed that If I could pack the cart into a mountain bike box, then it would be pretty easy to transport via an airline. Unfortunately a box this size falls under oversize luggage. With the extra costs associated with this may mean I might need to get the cart fabricated in Mongolia before I arrive. As you can imagine, I am a little uneasy about this. The alternative is to redesign the cart...food for thought!
To quote a dodgy politician back home,
"A lot done, more to do!
To quote a dodgy politician back home,
"A lot done, more to do!