I've just arrived back in Sydney after completing my 5800km cycling trip up the Yellow River. On 1 July 2025 I arrived at the 'First Bend of the Yellow River' (黄河九曲第一湾) near Ruoergai (Zoige) on the Qinghai-Sichuan border. I had originally intended to continue cycling a further 200km or so up to the town of Maduo, close to the source of the Yellow River. However, this is located in Golok country, which is closed to foreigners at the present time - I tried to reach it from the town of Gonghe in Hainan county, but was turned back by police at a road checkpoint just out of town on the way to Heke. Anyway, the headwaters at Jiuqu (Tangke) gave me enough of an impression of how the river is at 3500m altitude in the Tibetan grasslands.
My ride along the Yellow River took me three months, starting in early April 2025, and travelling through the provinces of Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Gansu, and Qinghai. The first section of the ride was done on a folding e-bike (Dahon Unio E20). This was OK for the shorter flatter sections in the Chinese plains, but I swapped it for a conventional size e-bike (a Giant Tour E+ 200) when I arrived in Xian after the first month. The new bike was much better sorted to to more hilly and rugged terrain heading in to Inner Mongolia, and I would never have completed the trip without its excellent 120km range powered by two batteries.
I experienced a wide variety of terrain, from the wheat fields and oilfields of the coastal plain to the epic canyons of the Yellow River along the Shaanxi/ Shanxi border, then the absolutely flat environment of the Mongolian grasslands and desert leading into the Muslim communities of Ningxia. After a break in Xian I continued up into the loess pinnacles of Gansu and ascended via the beautiful forests and rock formations of Kanbala to the large reservoir of Longyangxia and another canyon of the Yellow River. Along the way i saw a wide variety of birds (eg hoopoe), animals (eg marmots) and plants/flowers/trees.
The final stage of the trip was through more familiar ethnic Tibetan territory in Qinghai, which I have visited before and described in the articles about Ragya monastery. Travelling from Linxia to Hezuo and the first bend of the yellow River was a challnge because of the high altitude and the threat of being attacked by the ever-present Tibetan dogs.
From the Zoige area I continued to Chengdu in Sichuan via Langmusi and the beautiful valley of the Heishui river to get to Maoxian and Wenchuan.
I had a great trip, staying in hotels along the way, all found and booked at very reasonable prices (15-200 yuan/night) via WeChat. Navigation was with AMAP (Gaode) app. I met lost of great people on the road and had no problems with authorities or security en route. I was surprised how easy and convenient it is to travel in supposedly 'off the beaten track' parts of China, because there is now a booming local tourism industry, with facilities and roads, hotels, restaurants etc to match. I was also surprised by the transformation of previously 'backward' places such as Linxia into modern and very livable cities.
I'll be writing up a fuller account of my trip over the next few weeks.
