I started at 7 o’clock this morning ready to get a full day of walking. The landscape is striking here with scattered beacon towers and Xixia tombs sticking out of the ground.

After walking Northwards a while, I went more Eastwards to find a large irrigation channel I saw on the map. By doing this I could keep off the roads. From one to three o’clock, I rested under the shade of some high trees. Even got some sleep there.

I have been following the channel most of the day. Toward the end, the air became thick with mosquitoes. I usually don’t camp where I can be seen by others, but with the hot and humid air plus the mosquitoes, and a long day’s walk, I set up the tent, semi-hidden from a small but fairly heavily trafficated dirt road on the other side of the channel.

I am really tired now. Luckily, the temperature has dropped enough so that I can soon slip into the sleeping bag. I hope tomorrow isn’t as hot as today…

36 kilometres today.