Author: Rob Ainsley

The biggest climbs of the trip today (1500m in total), along ‘one of the world’s most dangerous roads’, more equipment disasters, plus a statue made of jade, some scary tunnels, and many awesome coastal views. We squelched out of Luodong through heavy rain, weaving between local cyclists who have perfected the art of one-handed riding,…

A day of on-and-off drizzle that wasn’t too bad until the last hour. Then it was bad. But with a friendly tailwind and smooth fast roads all day, it was plain sailing. (Rather too literally in that torrential last hour.) Anyway, the upshot was we got to our hostel in the lively town of Luodong…

The first day of the trip proper involved unseen ospreys, acid-trip molluscs, severe mechanicals, some excellent streetfood, and Taiwan’s northernmost point. We left Taipei along a series of excellent riverside tracks (pic). Yup, this a cycle track, not a road. Even my most ardent campaigning friends might grudgingly admit this is just about wide enough….

A lovely day of cycling along the Xindian River today, on one of Taipei’s many fabulous riverside cycle paths. First though we dropped in on Longshan Temple (pic), a splendid ‘folk temple’ that was busy with worshippers praying in the run-up to Chinese New Year next week, with locals getting meticulous horoscopes cast, and cycle…

We’re in Taipei for the weekend before setting off on the End to End proper on Monday. Our hire bikes are proving useful for exploring the city that the tourist rarely gets to see, such as the tailors that repaired Tim’s trousers and the coin-op that did his laundry. And, indeed, for the five-mile trip…

I rendezvoused with Tim here in Taipei last night, and we picked up our hire bikes today from a branch of Giant Cycles at lunchtime. Or, as my body clock thought it was, 4am. Taipei is a very bike-friendly city. You can cycle on the pavement, and many people do. This seems to cause no…