Being 4,830 metres above sea level, at the snowline atop the pass over Mount Zhuodala, was not the best place to get a puncture. It was, however inevitable; while huge sums of money are being poured into transport infrastructure in rural Sichuan province, transforming the area with new tunnels and bridges, there are still old and temporary roads where construction is under way, and this section of the Ganbai Road is no exception.

We were relieved to discover that the Land Rover Discovery Sport we’d rented from eHi Car Hire came with a full-sized spare wheel. Despite the Discovery Sport being produced locally by a joint venture in China, our SE trim SI4 version was an import.

You can read the full article here