Chishang

Another 75km today and I will need to use some of that "Aussie Butt Cream" before starting tomorrow

The bed in the Guangfu B&B last night was very comfortable.  However the room was hot which resulted in half of me being too hot and the other half cold. 

All these small Taiwanese towns are starting to look the same!

Last night street photos

The stall had some type of fan arrangement. to chase away the insects

Marias slipped into the FamilyMart for a couple of cold beers.

After a cup of tea together in our room we parted company agreeing to meet in Chishang at the end of the day.

I found my energy level quite low.  Probably due to the long ride yesterday and the lack of breakfast.

Cloudy and no sunshine.  More importantly… No rain!

My first stop was the next major town, Ruisui.  I'd travelled 25km and realised I was using too much battery power.  There was a 7/11 in the main street with a FamilyMart on the opposite corner.

 

FamilyMart

I went into the 7/11 and bought two sandwiches.  One contained sliced spicy pork and the other was a combination of egg and tuna.  The pork had too much gristle and I didn't eat all of it.  Everything was washed down with a container of strawberry flavoured milk.

Bike parked outside the 7/11 in front of the window where I could sit and eat whilst watching it.

Back onto Highway 9 and still feeling flat as the food had yet to work.  The next town was Yuli.  However Almost immediately there was a long and somewhat steep hill.  Down into 2nd gear and maximum power.  Despite this, I was tired at the summit.  Fortunately there was a reason to stop.  This is where the border marker for the Tropic of Cancer is located.

If you go up then you have to come down!  A relaxing 2km coasting back to the valley floor.

No change in the weather

The above photo shows the marked scooter and cycling lane on the highway.  To date I haven't felt intimidated by the traffic.

I wandered through the back roads of Yuli township looking for the cycle path I'd read about online.  The government moved the railway line from the east side of the river to the west as the old alignment was subject to regular earthquake damaged.  The old alignment has been converted into a cycleway.  I found it and continued on my journey.

Only to discover after several kilometres it was blocked where it crosses the river.

Looking behind the barrier I could see some recent earthquake damage.

A Taiwanese man was flying a drone here and he wanted my photo.

I backtracked to the main road and crossed the river using Highway 9.  Several kilometres beyond the river I realised I could re-join the cycleway and continued on it reaching the end at Dongli.   Quite a few Taiwanese tourist here and they wanted a photo of my bike and trailer.

The old railway platform.

No rest for the wicked and I continued on towards Chishang.  I had to stop at this interesting structure realising it was some type of theme park

Opposite there were a small group of people creating Gorilla statues from straw.  One assumes rice stalks?

I stopped on the outskirt of Chishang and contacted Marias to ask if he wanted to share accommodation tonight.  He did and will arrive later this evening.  I then used Booking.com to find some accommodation within our agreed price range and went to inspect them.  The first B&B was unoccupied; as is the case with many of the cheaper hostels.  However the manager of the 3 Star Hotel opposite spotted me and came over asking if I was after accommodation. Much better accommodation.  However I told her Marias wouldn't agree to an increase in our already agreed price so we got a bargain.

I've now showered and have the bike battery on charge.  An interesting complimentary tea in the room.