As promised by the weather forecast, we were back to glorious weather. Woke up before sunrise to see the sun come up over the mountain range to the east. The orange in the left middle ground is our tent and the big pillar in the background behind it is the base of a wind turbine.

As you can see we camped on the coast in the middle of a wind farm.

Our ride took us inland towards Sun Moon Lake. I decided to give MapsMe a go as our navigation, but after two large hills that didn’t show in the profile we gave up on it and went back to Google Maps. In the below photo after riding up a couple of hundred metres in altitude nobody wanted to pose for a photo, so was forced to take a selfie.

Taiwan is still very attached to rice growing. The below picture was taken close to the large city of Taichung and is interspersed with apartment blocks.

To avoid the mountainous terrain we decided to ride up the Dajia River. Google Maps took us through some amazing rice paddies on thin concrete paths. Some sections were so thin that only allowed one way bike traffic. Lucky the locals were knowledgeable and friendly and patiently waited for us to ride through.

Once we got to 55kms we started looking for a spot to set up camp. The best option was a elementary (primary) school, so we turned up at about 4:30pm and asked a couple of teachers if we could camp. They referred us to the school admin lady (Sherry), who rang the Principal to get the okay. Once Sherry had made sure we were legit, she was extremely inviting, generous and helpful. Amongst the numerous things she did for us was organise warm showers, dinner, basketballs and even contact with a Principal at a school near Sun Moon Lake. Below is a picture with Sherry and her two children who are the same age as our boys.

Check out my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/916520454/