The road to Parral

From the Copper Canyons my next anchor point and place with a Mexican contact was Hidalgo de Parral. Taking a cursory glance at my map I estimated three days to get there. Oh how I underestimated the terrain! While I did get there in three days some of the riding was pretty brutal. Climbs and descents of 1000ft to 2000ft were pretty frequent but, the tougher the terrain, the more spectacular the scenery. My photos don't really do the landscape justice; it was a genuinely exhilarating ride, the best road riding of the trip with very little traffic to contend with for once.

Pushing on, I didn't give myself much time to stop in the villages along the way but I did enjoy the variety they added to the landscape. Especially atmospheric first thing in the morning with mist rising, cockerels crowing, people preparing breakfast, many of these villages seemed rather forgotten by time.

As posted on Facebook, this was not the most salubrious of campsites being just a few metres from the road. However, when you've put in a shift of 92 miles through the mountains, if you've got flat ground you just zip up the tent, close out the world, lie down and sleep. At the very least, my pitch was screened from the road by trees so I felt safe from any unwanted human attention. My phone just ran out of battery before I could take a picture of the previous night's pitch high up on a rocky track above a deep canyon. At night you are serenaded by a marvellous orchestra of insect sounds, chirping rhythmically from all angles. The chorus is most intense just after dark and gradually thins out through the night until, by dawn, it is silent (and time to get up). 

 Having suffered a bit (a lot) to get Parral I was relieved and in extraordinarily high spirits to arrive here. This is my first stop in a city with significant colonial architecture and such a contrast to the preceding towns and villages which have more of a ranching/farming feel to them. My gallant steed is in the bottom left of the picture; riding fully loaded through a city you attract a bit of attention, all positive, curious and good natured. 

My contact in Parral is Aida, who runs a restaurant in town. She likes beer and good food so we've been getting on well! Also, she represents part of a movement that is bringing change to attitudes in Mexico. Though the church dominates many peoples' lives here in a way that it no longer does  in the UK, there is a LGBT community across the country that is becoming more visible.

 I was honestly so hyperactively excited to be in Parral that I went to bed really late (enjoying the luxury of Wifi and streamed radio) and was up at day break to see the city waking up. Result, the rest of the day I was exhausted and listless, walking around the city like a zombie. Must make better use of rest days and/or don't ride multiple 80+ mile days through the mountains.

Better use of a rest day - proper sleep followed by visiting the local sights such as Palacio Alvarado. This was the home of a wealthy family who owned the local silver mines. They were so rich that they offered to pay Mexico's national debt. Being taken around by a guide in Spanish was a sobering lesson that I still have a long way to go with the language. While I got the gist of the message I am acutely aware that my vocabulary is fairly limited and I will need to be proactive in expanding it.

So I'll be back on the road tomorrow heading in the direction of Durango. To save myself the ignominy of retreating to camp in grotty ditches, if I can pluck up the courage, in the coming days I plan to stop in villages and ask for camping spot with the local people. Given the hospitality I've received so far, and the interest my mode of travelling generates, I can't imagine being turned away. The addition of a Mexican flag to my bike is a shameless and wholely calculated gimmick to try and ingratiate myself with the people I encounter! 

Autumnal wanderings through the Sierra Madre Occidental

After five days in Nuevo Casas Grandes, four with no cycling at all, I finally tore myself away from family Caraveo to continue my journey south.

The ensuing days saw me crossing back and forth over the Sierra Madre Occidental which stretches from Northern Mexico down to the border with Guatemala. Cool days with the occasional spot of rain made for pleasant riding conditions and it felt good to be back in the saddle, making progress. I stayed with a priest, Padre Gabriel, in Buenaventura. What a cool guy! It was great to see him give a highly entertaining service to the local Oaxaca community, migrant workers from the poorer south of Mexico, and enjoy a nightcap of a couple of chilled tequilas with him. This is the church next to his home.

The next day I powered on through the mountains, rising up above 8000 ft for the first time in weeks. Rusty I suppose from a few days rest I developed nagging pains in my left knee and right thigh, my first concerns of injury on the whole trip. Since then they've sorted themselves out with the help of some intensive stretching sessions but a salutary reminder that I'm not superman and, like my bike, I need to pay a bit of attention to myself to remain a well oiled machine.

Continuing south to La Junta I had the pleasure of staying with Joel and his lovely family. I really hit it off with Joel and chatting with him in Spanish was understanding 90% of what he was saying (I think!). Real sense of progress happening on the language front. Here we are standing in front of his ice cream shop, Tutti Frutti.

I gladly accepted Joel's offer to stay on a day with the family and we travelled to the state capital, also named Chihuahua, to attend a fiesta. Enormous fun to spend the afternoon talking in a mixture of Spanish and English (eldest child, Crystal, speaks good English) about Mexican and British culture dispelling a few myths and stereotypes.

 

Like me, this hummingbird is a delicate creature on a southward trajectory for the winter and our paths crossed in las Barrancas del Cobre. Heading back into the mountains again, I had a wonderful ride up to and beyond Creel deep into the heart of the Copper Canyons. One of my best days riding of the trip, with the bit between my teeth, I managed to cover 96 miles with a height gain of over 7000 ft across an undulating day. Mercifully, not a twinge of complaint from my legs and I made it to my destination just before the heavens opened for the evening.

The Copper Canyons are something of a place of pilgrimage for me having read 'Born To Run', an intriguing mix of writing about running and anthropology based on the Tarahumara people who live in the valleys of the Copper Canyons. Though this picture hints at a level of progress with corrugated iron roofs and solar panels, the Tarahumara lead a simple life, materialism an alien concept to them. Subsistence farmers -  maize, goat herding etc - they barely deal in money and many of them barely speak Spanish.

Carlos and Veyra kindly hosted me at the Copper Canyons and helped me to find the best hiking trails through the deep valleys. Each step of the way my hosts are putting me in contact with friends further  ahead on my route and this is proving to be a great way to travel. It gives me the opportunity to get to know local people and access their local knowledge, it gives me constant practice of Spanish, and helps with the budget as hotels are my greatest expense. Travelling alone it also keeps loneliness at bay! My good friend Adam Rowe, as he drove me to the airport to see me off from England, advised me to stay in hotels once in a while to give myself a break and pamper myself. Two and a half months  in I've stayed in hotels three times; I hope this doesn't disappoint him.

Nuevo Casas Grandes - a break at last!

Riding the roads of Mexico, so far, has been a fairly safe experience. You do encounter road surfaces with quite a range of quality and some, like these, are in the process of construction. Nevertheless, they do get you from A to B and some have had wide shoulders to ride on. 99% of truck drivers have been highly respectful and waited behind me for a gap in traffic to pass. The 1% who don't give you quite a fright but I've lived to tell the story!

After putting in such a big, fairly relentless shift in the States, I told myself that I would stop at the first opportunity in Mexico for a decent break from the bike and just relax. I have been so incredibly lucky to stay with Perla and her family in Nuevo Casas Grandes and have felt so at home here. I couldn't have asked for a more gorgeous, intelligent, welcoming and good humoured host and it will be a wrench to leave tomorrow.

I have been introduced to many facets of Mexican culture during my stay, none more interesting to me than food. On Sunday night Ismael, on the left, cooked us a mighty asador - BBQ - of beef, chillis, potatoes etc and gave me my first clamatas- beer mixed with tomato juice, lime juice, salt and pepper.

A friend of the family, Eduardo, runs four ranches around Casas Grandes and invited me out to see how they are run. It was really interesting to see how the desert conditions are carefully managed to get the best out of the land, successful ranches don't happen by chance, you need to put a lot of effort into them. Eduardo is pretty fluent in English as he attended a local Mormon school in his youth; run by Americans, all the instruction was in English.

Babysitting! I had to make myself useful during my stay and lend a hand. Andres, the brother of Perla, left his kids with us while he attended a meeting. Absolutely loveable kids, incredibly sweet but after a few hours running around after them, trying to get a better handle on my Spanish, I was exhausted! I guess it doesn't help that I was out in a bar until the early hours of the previous night (just making the point that I'm not too old to go out for a night on the tiles).

Spencer is an American guy living in Casas Grandee who    is passionate about promoting tourism in the area. He works with local artists and renovated traditional homes to help boost tourism (above making money). I completely agree with his view that warnings about safety in the area are unfounded as regards tourists. Yes, there have been some issues with drug cartels in Northern Mexico in the past but these problems are now over and tourists were never targeted. If I'd listened to some friends' advice I would have completely skipped this area and missed out on so much. Thank goodness I decided to follow my own instincts, have faith in the people's and just crack on with the journey.

Paquime is one of Northern Mexico's most important archaeological sites and, while there are probably going to be greater treasures to see as I get to the south, this was a great introduction to Mexico's indigenous culture. The area also boasts great potteries based around the small town of Mata Ortiz. I was severely tempted to buy a piece but was unsure of how it would last the journey strapped to my bike. 

More earning my keep, a morning spent in the local primary school. Any hopes of sitting back, observing from the back of the classroom son evaporated as I was asked to lead a few activities for the whole class. Good fun but exhausting! Six days immersed in Nexican culture has been fantastic and, though I am my harshest critic when it comes to Spanish, my listening skills are slowly picking up and, more than just ordering a beer or meal, my conversational level is improving. A lot of local dialect to grapple with still! 

And now for something completely different... Mexico!

The first two months of my trip are up so farewell Canada and the USA. In the end I completed the Great Divide Trail in exactly 50 days, a gruelling experience which I'm proud but glad to have completed. Before I get completely consumed by all things Mexican, I should mention that, shattering some of my preconceptions about the States, not once did anyone give me any trouble, perhaps once was anyone less than helpful when I approached them for help and at absolutely all times I felt really safe; I frequently left my bike unlocked as I went shopping or got a cup of coffee. Canada and the States have the Moden seal of approval!

As happened when I entered the States, a violent storm erupted as I approached the Mexican border. Thunder, lightning just overhead and violent gusts of wind made what can be a stressful process even more challenging. I don't know if I've done the procedure correctly but I do have a Mexican visa. Why am I being so chummy with the immigration official? He was expecting me! Honestly. I'd made contact with a Warm Showers host, Elias Ramos, who has then spread the word of my arrival. First and only time I expect I'll ever get a personal greeting at an international border.

I crossed the border just south of Columbus into the village of Puerto Palomas. Dusty little border town, pleasant enough with a few restaurants, shops and money changers. These guys were playing some traditional sounding tunes so I nipped into the bar for my first Mexican beer. It is said that these border areas are plagued with crime and violence. I have seen no evidence of this myself but will be taking precautions anyway - no camping in the desert, hotel stays from now (first hotel of the trip, none in Canada/the States!), not out after dark, ride during daylight hours along major routes, don't accept sweets off strangers or go to see their puppies etc etc.

As I crossed the border I was genu inely ecstatic to be in Mexico. Though Canada/the States had treated me so well many elements of the culture are very similar and, for me, the biggest thrill of travelling is experiencing the new and unknown. I want to learn more about the Mexican Revolution and Pancho Villa's role (this is his statue), I want to relearn and improve my Soanish, hopeful picking up on local idiosyncrasies. I want to discover Mexican cuisine which I'm really quite ignorant about, and contribute to the country's beer industry (on a small scale as drinking to excess does not support cycle touring).

My first hotel if the trip, Hotel Plaza. Dusty streets and blue skies, I love the character of the towns I've been in so far. A little gentle bargaining seems to be acceptable here and I shouldn't need to pay more than $15 for a room.

Moving on from Puerto Palomas, 20 miles out of town, a car stopped ahead of me and the driver got out and waved me down. Immediately I was on the alert but cautiously stopped. The guy introduced himself, he was the brother of Elias Ramos! He'd been expecting to see me! We chatted a little, he gave me a bottle of iced water and we went our delegate ways.

Later on, as I passed through Ascension, this hitch-hiker flagged me down. "Are you Daniel?" What?!? He was a friend of Elias Ramos and was offering me a place to staying I needed it. It seems that Elias Eamos has a network of guardian angels looking out for me, smoothing my path through Northern Mexico. Today I ride on to Nuevo Casas Grandes and am thrilled to be staying with a Mexican family tonight. Warm Showers has transformed my experiences on this trip.

I thought the desert was dry? Yesterday, just seven miles short of my destination, Janos, I got caught in a mid-afternoon convectional storm. Super intense, I just had time to put in my waterproofs and cower somewhat pathetically next to my bike. For probably just 10 minutes I was lashed by rain and wind and must have looked a sorry sight to the passing lorries. I mean a more sorry sight than usual. 

Roadside stalls will be my main source of refuelling from now. Cheap and filling and the inevitable miscommunications and language barriers can bring you together with people if you just laugh it off. I actually quite enjoy ordering "something" not knowing exactly what will turn up. It reminds me of my own cooking.

Last post from the States

After tough days cycling through the Gila Wilderness, plagued by punctures and fatigue, boy was I glad to make it to Silver City! More a bustling little desert town than a city, it has a charming downtown area with quaint cafes, a thriving art scene and a great library. If it weren't for my determined drive to finish the Great Divide, I could have stayed here for a few days.

I was glad to get here and so was my ailing steed. I put her into the bike shop for much needed TLC and the team at Gila did a great job. New chain, new cassette, new brake blocks, brake cables etc etc. I was particularly glad to get some of Gila's special two year guaranteed puncture-free tubes fitted: 40% thicker than normal tubes with self-sealing lubricant to fix punctures from within. Well worth the extra expense. I've also downsized from 2.25 inch to 1.75 inch tyres as I'll be doing more road work than tracks now. The next day the tyres felt so nimble and, with the refreshed drivechain, the bike was riding like a dream. The only issue I had with narrower tyres was that they sank into the very sandiest tracks so I had to dismount (or fall off a couple of times) and push the heavy bike through the sand.

Trish kindly hosted me in Silver City and I had a wonderful stay. She is a great cook, has a lovely pack of dogs and a very comfortable home. A Kiwi by birth, Trish has lived right around the globe and I enjoyed hearing her stories of life in Australia, Papua New Guinea, South Africa and, of course, the States. 

As I said, the bike handled like a dream and I soon skipped across the desert south towards the Mexican border. I encountered a few roadrunners along the way but even they couldn't outpace the bike. A hurricane had reportedly hot Baja California and the fringes of the storm passed over New Mexico making for an overcast day with slightly cooler riding conditions.

Final crossing of the Continental Divide, #32. After weeks and weeks of riding at elevations of 7000ft + it has felt really strange to descend to 4-5000 ft. And it's certainly getting warmer at these lower altitudes.

Unexpectedly, my final night in the States was spent under a roof as the community centre at Hachita opens its doors to Great Divide bikers and Continental Divide hikers. For me, these basic conditions constitute real luxury. Not having to camp, not having to cook on a stove, not having to not wash - nice to have a break from these things. Best of all, there was a solitary beer in the fridge which I gratefully consumed in celebration of my time in the States.

The next morning the sky was clear and, travelling east, I had the breeze behind me. I made the 45 miles across to Columbus in just three hours and, after writing this post, I will ride the final three miles to cross the border to Puerto Palomas. It's tremendously exciting to be crossing into a new country and I'm looking forward to the challenge of speaking Spanish and navigating my way across a vast country.

Since riding south from the I-10 Interstate Highway there has hardly been any traffic except for border patrol trucks. This gives the area a slightly eerie atmosphere and I felt like I was travelling through a kind of no-man's land. At one point a helicopter passed over me and I feared they were buzzing me, a suspected Mexican migrant, trying to travel back south before Trump's dream of a wall is realised.

At this point I must repeat MY PLEA

Instead of building walls, dividing people and reacting to problems, OXFAM works in a proactive way to create sustainable livelihoods in impoverished parts of the world. This is what many of the places of origin of migrants have in common, poverty. If people can make a decent living in their original communities the motive for many migrations will be eliminated. Build communities not walls!

A plea for charity

Please sponsor me with a donation to OXFAM! Click here for: MY PLEA
The video is shot at the Great Divide's highest point.

My original fundraising target was £1000 which I'm getting close to but will need some more help to get there. If I surpass £1000 let's go for £2000! As you can see, most of your contributions go towards development work, followed by humanitarian work (responding to disasters) and, finally, towards campaigning. Soon I'll be entering Latin America where OXFAM does some of its main work; if I can I will try to visit some of the projects funded and run by the charity.

The day after I shot my plea I caught up with this cyclist, Koen from the Netherlands. He is creating a GPS track as he cycles and, for weeks, my father has been charting his progress and encouraging me to catch up with him. Like me, he is doing a charity ride; he is seeking to raise funds for research into MS. Please take a moment to look at his website: Koen - MS

He is undertaking a formidable challenge for an admirable cause, it would be wonderful if he received some donations from people looking at my blog.

The agony and the ecstasy

Tough days! I feel like a marathon runner running the last few miles. I've done the hard work getting through the Great Divide Trail but fear 'hitting the wall' - not quite having the energy nor the good fortune to get me through. Indeed, the trail maps say "In addition to to having stout lungs and strong legs, to do the entire Great Divide you will need to have a little luck... on your side." AGONY: After suffering just one puncture in nearly two months my luck ran out between Grants and Silver City. In four days I had to stop six times to repair punctures and, invariably, I seemed to stop in places with no shelter, the sun beating down on me as I desperately tried to find the hole(s) in my tubes. At one stop before Pie Town my inner tubes resembled sieves, with multiple puncture points caused by tiny goathead thorns. This induced 'puncture paranoia' - hypersensitive feeling for my tyres, nervously stopping to check pressure levels in the belief they were deflating. Sometimes they were, sometimes they weren't. Stressful, but if you can't fix a puncture you shouldn't really be on the Trail.

AGONY/ECSTASY: My worst day for punctures was on the approach to Pie Town. Yes, Pie Town. I made an extra early 6:30am start to ensure I made the 69 miles to to the restaurants before 4pm closing, giving myself some contingency time 'just in case'. I had a glorious morning's ride through the relatively flat semi-desert. Red earth and occasional stretches of lava fields evoked the Great Rift Valley of Africa. Then in the afternoon the inner tube sieve moment happened and an hour of repairs threatened to derail all my efforts to get there. But, I had to get my pie! Head down, ridiculous frenzied cycling got me to Pie Town by 3:10pm and I was able to have my pie (peach-cinammon). How did it taste? No idea, I shovelled it down barely tasting it, exhausted from the ride.

ECSTASY: Apart from much celebrated pie restaurants, Pie Town is also home to Toaster House. This is a cabin set up for bikers on the Great Divide Trail and hikers on the Continental Divide Trail. I had such a wonderful stay there and, even after the serving of pie (and burger and chips), I had space for a huge plate of pasta, vegetables and cheese. It was great to cook indoors in a kitchen rather than outside on a stove. If only I'd thought to drain the pasta with my inner tubes...

I had great conversations with Amaya (above) and Eric who have been on the road since 2006! This is their blog/website: Amaya and Eric and also with Scott, an American cyclist, about the forthcoming Presidential election. I can't repeat what he said about Trump...

ECSTASY: Getting to Pie Town, frenzied, but early at least gave me some downtime and I enjoyed listening to The Who on a tapedeck. The next day, feeling well rested and inspired by the tales of Amaya and Eric, I set off with the plan of just making good progress. All about mind management, I planned to ride in 15 mile segments taking 15 minute food/water breaks between each segment. No looking at the bigger picture and, for once, forcing myself to break, not ride on. By late afternoon I'd made 75 miles comfortably and, with half-decent roads and gentle descent ahead of me I challenged myself to make 100 miles. Though I had to ride on into the dark I made it!

ECSTASY: Here is my campsite I found in the dark - Beaverhead Work Centre for forest rangers. I shouldn't really camp here but it was Saturday night, no-one was around and forest rangers are pretty supportive of bicycle tourists. This may not look it at first glance, but this really was a luxury campsite. Flat ground, toilet block and, most importantly of all, a precious water pump. It is so dry out here that you have to plan your water stops carefully and sometimes drink sparingly; not great for the body in a hot and dry climate.

DOUBLE AGONY: after the high of making 100 miles the next day was so tough! No doubt the fatigue of the previous day had an effect but mostly it was the hard the trail conditions; constantly undulating, terrible surfaces - washboarded, soft gravel, protruding rocks, loose rocks. The day didn't start well as I had to fix yet another puncture which meant that, by the time I got started, it was already seriously warming up. I was trying really hard but by 4pm had only covered just over 30 miles. I felt genuinely dejected and when I began to have issues with my rear derailleur and yet another puncture, I began to feel a little helpless. Nevertheless, I managed to, because I had to, fix each problem and in the end made 66 miles by the end of the day. I camped at 7:30, no cooking, just peanut butter sandwiches and energy bars and a good glug of water and straight to bed.

AGONY: I had some close, potentially hazardous, encounters with animals on this day. In the setting sun I couldn't see the road that well and was inches from running over a large rattlesnake (not this little one, I didn't dare go back to take a photo of the one I nearly squashed). Then, minutes later two unleashed dogs set upon me and I only just warded them off with the threat of stones before their owner came and took responsibility for his violent beasts.

You may ask why I'm pushing so hard, making the trail so tough. I can't help it, it's in my DNA to face a challenge head on. Some bikers are doing 20-40 miles a day but it's not how I want to regularly ride. Having said that, the reward for a string of long days through the desert and forests is that I could coast 20 miles down to Silver City this morning, put my bike into the bike shop for some much needed TLC and give me valuable rest time hanging out in cafes and the library. Civilisation, never underrate it! 

The Mexican border is now just two days ride away. If I do it in two days I'll have completed the whole Divide in 50 days. However, I am tempted to linger in Silver City an extra day, it seems to be a lovely place. I'll see how I get on with my Warm Showers host tonight...