May 14, 2023
May 14th
out with Debbie
Debbie is up for a ride. This morning's sky is a blanket of grey and the temp' is in the twenties again, meaning it's quite comfortable. I show her Google Maps and try to explain the location of a back-lane way of getting to Daxi. She says she knows where to go and we set off, her leading the way. It's about 10:00.
When we soon hit a busy road it dawns on me she's not understood and rather than keep riding along the 112, when I see a turning we've never taken, we make a right. It's unclear where this lane will take us, but it's different and quiet.
It's actually a dead-end and two minutes later we're back on the 112.
There's a series of back lanes over on our right somewhere, currently out of sight, but these are ones I want to get on, so we make another right turn a few minutes later and this time, after a couple of twists, it brings us to a canal with a service road-cum-cycle path running alongside it. Nice.
The canal looks very familiar. It's all a bit déjà vu. It's got steep concrete walls and the blueish water flows at the same kind of speed as I saw a week or two ago, while riding to Longtan. However, this is certainly not that canal. Who knew this was here? Not me. Anyway, it's a 'new' route and we follow it south.
The 'new' path keeps on going and goes below Route 66 and eventually reaches Highway 3. We've no idea exactly where we are and it's time to consult Google Maps. It's clear we need to head east to get to Daxi and there's a lane tracing the elevated highway and it meanders for a while before kicking us out onto a road that Debbie and I used to ride along most Sundays. That was about 15 years ago. We know better now.
We cycle along the wide road, knowing there's a turning off onto a lane that will drop us down to the river, then we can ride along a cycle path to Daxi. The small junction is a bit further than I remember, but it eventually appears and it's nice to escape from the fast traffic - once we've managed to cross over the four lanes of busy tarmac.
The lane twists and drops and we get to flat fields where onions and other crops are growing. You could say it's a bike path, but it was really built for farmers to access their land. It's just wide enough for a small vehicle.
Eventually the lane brings us the proper bike path that leads to the bridge that crosses over to Daxi. The main path is being rebuilt and is blocked off, so we ride along a lower one - I was here with Ralph not very long ago. However, construction work has since encroached on this lower route and we get to a point where it's blocked, forcing us to lug the bikes around a concrete pillar. Thankfully the mud has mostly dried, otherwise we'd be knee-deep in it.
Daxi is buzzing. It's Sunday and this place has some history, making it a weekend destination for locals. The town's Old Street is lined with merchants' homes dating back to around 1900, built long before the nearby dam was. The dam obviously reduced the river's usefulness as a conduit for trade, but that had already switched to the road. Daxi became a backwater - literally.
It's noon and we're hungry and Debbie stops at one of the first street cafes we see. It turns out they only sell sausage, so I pass and watch on as she eats two. We than wheel the bikes through busy back streets and get to Louisa Coffee.
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The market area is beginning to wind down when we walk about, leaving the bikes outside Louisa. I buy a three mangoes for about a US dollar each and Debbie gets some plums from an aboriginal guy who's wearing a nifty hat. They're quite expensive - about 30 US cents each - so hopefully they're sweet and tasty.
We then cruise back down the hill towards the river but make a right and head towards the new footbridge that Ralph and I crossed this week. Before we get there, I notice a sign for a garden center and we spend 10 minutes or more looking round, selecting small pots to buy. One fern I pick out turns out to be a sample and is not for sale, but we get another one that looks different. We end up with six plants and it's a struggle to get them in our saddlebags, what with the fruit. Debbie has to have a larger pot stuck in her bar-bag.
On the way to the new bridge, hoards of dayrippers are milling around and we spot a path leading into a park that Ralph and I hadn't noticed, so we venture in for a quick look. There are a few buskers with amplifiers and it's all very busy and riding among the crowd is hard work, so we quit after five minutes or so. It looks very similar to the area on the other side that Ralph and I explored.
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Once across the 500m footbridge, we pedal in the directon of Daxi, as we reckon that's how we can get onto a small lane that climbs up to Bade. We get on a road hoping that there'll be a turning north, but the couple we try don't lead anywhere and it's a while before we can cut across. We've gone so far west that we have to double for a while back before gettting to the twisting lane that climbs steeply up to Bade.
It should now be plain sailing, but the lane we take is blocked off when we get to a small bridge. Worlkers are busy doing something and signal to us we have to go back. It's quite a way to bade, so we try one lane, but it's a cul-de-sac, so we consult Google Maps.
It's all a bit convoluted, but I soon get my bearings on a small lane that I took about a year ago, one that bends left and right and heads past rice fields. There's one more steep climb and both of us feel we've had enough and it's nice to finally get home after nearly six hours out and about.
Today's ride: 50 km (31 miles)
Total: 2,996 km (1,861 miles)
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