Sarah Outen - London2London via the world on a Santos Travelmaster

Fresh from the desert. After a day's riding through the desert I am filthy from top to toe - a mix of dirt from traffic and dust from the 'road'. Scary - it's what I will look like in a few years time perhaps.

Uphill in the Gobi. You'll notice the trucks in the distance - there is so much traffic on this through route that at times the riding was more of a slog than a joy.

Heading out of Xin Xin Xia the road wasn't a road, but more of a sand pitt. Passing traffic kicked up the dust and turned the world white and the surface reduced pedalling to walking at times. Thankfully it only lasted 10km or so before a little patch of tarmac appeared. For the next 100km it was to be a patchwork of road and dust, making for some challenging riding indeed.

Top of the hill, top of the world. We are both happy that Gao is still here, 2,000km into the run to Beijing from Urumqi. I doubted he would make it this far to start with, though his sights have been firmly set on Beijing since Day 1. We are particularly happy in this picture after a 45km climb up through the mountains. Three weeks in and he is still going strong. Having never pedalled more than 10km before joining me, he has clocked over 2,000 and has another 1500km to go.

London2London to China. The grin says it all - 3.5 months after leaving London's Tower Bridge and I am happy to be making my way through China. Hercules, my bike, is standing up to the challenges remarkably well.

Adventure Soap. Biodegradable multi-purpose soap from Lifeventure. I call it my 'Adventure Soap' and never leave home without it.

Hello world. Sending a blog to the world using satellite technology.

Shaltai Lake. Top campspot, if a little chilly!
Sarah Outen crossed the border from Kazakhstan to China on 28th June 2011. She was joined by camera woman Justine Curgenven for ten days between Almaty, KZ and Urumqi, China.

Steppe cycling. The roads in western Kazakhstan are worse than atrocious, causing drivers to pick their own routes through the steppe. Often you can have fifty metres of more of 'lanes' where people have driven alongside the real road on either side. I spent my time hopscotching between the 'real' road and alternatives - whichever was likely to cause the least damage to Hercules and I would be chosen. These lanes either side of the road varied between hard mud, thick wet sticky mud, hard sand, dry sand and rubble and would either make for (relatively) swift riding or slow walking.

I bumped into Hiro just outside of Shymkent , SE Kazakhstan, having recently passed out of Kyrgystan. He was pedalling in the opposite direction to me, also London bound and had started in Shanghai three months before.

Sarah Outen hit Kazakhstan on 25th May 2011. Camping last thing at night In SE Kazakhstan after a long day on the road. The midges were out and the sleep monsters were already threatening. Tired, dusty and hot, Sarah still has lots to do before bed. There's food to be cooked, gear to be repaired and admin to catch up with on home - phone calls and internet time. It was gone midnight before she went to bed, leaving just a few hours before sunrise and the start of a whole new day.

Hercules, is holding up well to the challenges of the road so far. Very impressed with the Santos Travelmaster.

Sarah made it to the Rostov region of Russia on May 16th. She pedalled East to the historic city of Volgograd and then South to Astrakhan, which sits just above the Caspian Sea. She was hosted by locals, escorted by police and treated to some wonderful Russian hospitality. Hercules and I had an escort for the first few days in Russia - being handed from district to district. Poor policemen - it can't have been very exciting at an average speed of 20kmph.

On my first day in Ukraine I was a bit bewildered by the new language that I didn't understand and felt a little lost. Towards the end of the day I stopped at the roadside for a drink. Some children cycled past on the other side of the road and waved to me. I waved back. One of them, a young lad, was singing as he pedalled and waved some flowers at me. He looked back as he cycled past and turned to cross the road. He came over and handed me this little bunch of pretty flowers - a random gesture which brought happy tears to my eyes. It was a good day after all.

Polish Camping. At the end of the day I look for somewhere to camp - preferably out of sight of the main road and people. Here I was a mile or so down a dirt track at the side of a field. I was happy to see the sun in the morning as it had rained the whole day before.

Big bike, little bike. Hercules waits patiently next to a beast of a motorbike in Kulmbach, Germany. The town was full of bikes - thousands - on the day I cycled through, as part of a huge rally.