Day 4 - The Dreaded Dunes
 
We were woken up at 3 am to pack the bags and tape / prepare your feet for the dreaded dunes. All the talk about camp was how to tackle section 1 on the "righteous" sand dunes, taller than a tall building and steeper than everest apparantly!!!!
 
We got on the bus with trepidation at 4am and set off for the 3 hour bus ride, tough after getting in at 4ish the night before so the last thing we wanted was a punture on one of the busses tyres at the 1/2 way point to delay the start by 45 mins ... Every min counts to keep out of the heat so the groans were well waranted, however the sight of the dunes was amazing. Really this is what we are here for running (walking) in the soft sand although hard on the ups the downs were like skiing in powder and the weather gods blessed us with cloud cover for the Big Dunes Stage.
 
The cloud cleared and the 2nd and 3rd stages the temperature got to mid late 40s and the wind dropped. Everyone had been moving well but out and the heat hit so quickly that everyone was caught out by the sudden temperature change that Chkp 2 looked like a M.A.S.H unit. People literally crashing in to the tents and the medics were working flat out to deal with the onslaught of overheating competitiors. The "dunettes" were brutal like walking in porridge and with the heat 2 - 3 and 3 - 4 were tough but we struggled though and got home in 10 1/2 hours. A long day especially after the early start and short sleep. Early to bed as the long march 80k was the next day.
 
Day 5 - The Long March
 
A great nights sleep thanks to the sleeping pill .... A solid 8 hours after the lack of sleep the night before was well needed as our plan was to walk through the night and get home before the sun came up again.
 
The Weather Gods smiled on us again and we started with cloud cover and can u believe it rained ....Only I can come to one of the dryest places on earth and bring rain !!
 
We set off well and fast to take advantage of the cool weather and managed to cover the first 33km dunes and salt flats in 6hr30 ....Then the cloud cleared and the temperature jumped to 50 Degs ....It was going to be a long 47km to the end in that. We waitied out for a while at Chkp 3 but then we had to move despite the heat. It was brutal across the Turpan Basin 11km and then onto some scrub and up into Gao Chang, ancient ruins from the days of the silk road. We got there just as the sun set at 10pm then it was just a case of slogging out the last 23km at night .....The heat of the day had really taken it out of us and just to keep a steady 5km and hour at night was tough and we both went to places  in our minds that I never want to have to go again ..... We kept chatting and encouraging each other and we finally made the final climb to cross the line in a mixture of elation and exhaustion at 3.40 am ......19hrs and 40 Mins in that heat a massive effort.
 
We have a rest day today but it is brutal and 50 degs up here again so not really that restfull ....... An 11km stage tom up a small climb and back ....A walk in the park if it wasnt for the fact everyone has killer blisters and putting the dry, crusty sweaty gear back on does not appeal and then trying to get the swollen feet back in the trainers one more time to claim the Gobi Medal!!!

The sun rose over a beautiful picture perfect valley after a cool evening. 44km awaited starting with 100s of river crossings in “brisk” cold water. Nice on the feet but also walking along a river bed with large rocks and  your feet constantly getting wet, just drying out and then getting wet again is tough on the feet. After 9k we turned off up a steady 400m climb over about 9km …Nice for us to have a chance against the fast boys who walk the ups and run the flats an downs. Once we crested the top we were on a slow gentle decent for the next 24km making good time through the checkpoints taking on lots of water and electrolytes as it had heated up to mid 30s maybe even close to 40. The nice breeze across kept us cool and we had to be aware how hot it was. We picked up one of the guys that had been a leader and had pushed it too hard that day and had been sitting in the tent at checkpoint 4 rehydrating and walked with him to the end where the wind dropped and we really noticed that we are in the desert. We got across the line in just under 8 hours a great effort as we needed to get in early as we have a 4 am bus to the Turpan Basin and the dreaded dunes. So we have a little more time to rehydrate eat and get everything organized for the first of 2 big days. We are spending the night in a beautiful  little Wiga village in a valley. 

We managed to wash our feet (and sneak a general wash) in a cool stream that runs through the village, very welcome after 3 days without a shower, gear is still sweaty and smelly but at least we get one nights sleep feeling clean. They have somehow managed to give each “tent” a Wiga house to stay in for the night which is pretty nice though at the moment looks like it will be pretty warm. Think we need to slip a few Yuan in the meter for the aircon.  

Having a great time despite the heat, a couple of blisters (but nothing serious) and distance we are covering. The views are amazing and the guys (and girls) in the tent are great fun at camp and the toil of the day is quickly forgotten over a freeze dried meal and warm water.  

Must send a note to the Ying Du Hotel to order more beer for Saturday night …..Though we will probably be the cheapest dates in Asia after a week out here !!!

After the unexpected heat of day 1 (34 Degs at Camp) we went to sleep at over 2000m expecting to awake to another day of not so glorious sunshine. We awoke and Andy looked out of the tent and commented that “the fog on the Tyne Is All Mine”. It was a chilly 6 Degs and we were basically sitting in a cloud. The RTP mandatory gear of a warm jacket, gloves and ski hat that we hat all scoffed at and gone as light as possible were now more than needed it was freezing.  Gobi gets a few MM of rain on average in June, so of course it then started to rain.

The route for the day took us up and out of the camp along a ridge and into mountains …. We couldn’t see our hand in front of our face so the start was delayed first from 8 to 9 then to 10 and finally to 12.So we sat in tent in our sleeping bags shivering waiting for the start.  Eventually they had to change and shorten the route as the 41k people would have been getting to camp at 10 – 11pm. We ended up with a fairly gentle 22km on pretty flat terrain with one (very cold) river crossing  at the end. The fast guys loved it and the leader was in after about 1hr40 ….We were a tad more sedate in 3hr15min still saving as much energy with day 4 and the dunes getting closer. The weather has cleared now and we have a long 44km stage tom with the first 10k in a now swollen river bed ….a climb of 300-400m in about 5km and then all down to the end. 

feeling good as today wasn’t that taxing and well fed with a Chicken Korma for dinner tonight. Looking forward to tomorrow with the shortened stage today  they are saying now we probably wont have to make up the distance on another day and the bag getting lighter it’s a case of moving well tomorrow to cover the 44km as we have a 4am 3hr bus ride on Wednesday morning to 10k of dunes on a 37km stage in the Turpan and the heat!!!

This was the easy stage ....the leaders were expected to complete e stage in just over 3 hours on the first cool easy day ....The first 9km was fine and cool early 20s then we started to get a taste of the Gobi ....It warmed up about 30 also we are about 2500m up. The climbs started not too serious 5x 200m ish a time but decent and then walking up the canyons with the trapped heat a nice little apperatife for the next few days. Got to camp about 3.30pm 7h30 for 36ish k. A bit slow but there are still people getting over the line now at 6.15pm.The leader made it in 4hrs so we have a bit of time to catch up tom ...Best get some food in us and a good nights sleep if we are gonna catch them !!!!
 
Got a great bunch of guys in the tent really good fun so haveing a good crack when the walking is over ......Cant say its the best holiday i have ever had but enjoying the challenge and looking forward to days 2 and 3 ....Not so much 4 !!!!!

We arrived safe and sound on Thursday Evening and managed to negotiate the transfer from the airport with Chinas answer to Lewis Hamilton ....Red lights are apparantly go here and so are green!! There were a few other competitiors on the flight and they were aall pretty chatty and friendly. Managed to find a resturant to eat and had a decent meal. 
Friday we had a good day, checked kit and food for the race and packed the bag, checked out the local market and managed diner.
Saturday we had the race breif at 8am followed by the gear check, so unpacked all the stuff we had nicely paced ao repack it all again!! All ok a little  heavy at 12.5kg but the weather is supposed to be ok for the for the first few days and the course doesnt look too bad 32km , 41km and 44km though they dont look too steep or too tough ....easy to say from the camp before the start. Then there is day 4 and 5 ....Will worry about that when we have done 1-2-3 !!!! 
Tent looks a bit small but should be ok ....... tent mates seem fun but then the pain hasnt started yet !!!!
All good so far ...Will post again tom night ....

Just a test top see if this is working and I can blog from the race !!!