One day, I made so many stops, lots of chats and fun, no wonder I only walked 24 kilometres. It was smiles before miles 
I arrived in quiet villages and left them pumping but alas made a baby cry!
Another three days and nights on the road. That first night I was just finishing off my dinner and I was thanking my lucky stars that I was well placed. Looking out of the restaurant window, the drizzle had turned to torrential rain. A little later thunder, followed by several flashes of frightening lightening illuminated the night-time sky. The establishment also doubled as a basic accommodation, not bad, my dinner and a bed for about eleven Euro equivalent. The owner was thoughtful enough that he brought me a basin of warm water for a refreshing foot soak. With some more warm water, I had a body wash as sometimes that's the better option to risque shower conditions. Still, I was grateful. The bed was clean, that's the main thing. If it hadn't been I would have slept in my sleeping bag. I laughed when the owner told me I could pee into an upstairs sink rather than to go downstairs to the outside toilet.
When you are walking alone and without a support vehicle one has to work with the cards you are dealt with. Even if I was a millionaire I would most likely have slept in that same bed that night.
Next day, Saturday I walked another 36 kilometres and skirted a city called Anqiu. A large proportion of that day was along the banks of the Wenhe River. Elderly couples were out walking and shared some quiet bicycle paths with me while young families enjoyed their day trips as they socialised in shaded tree-lined areas.
The days are becoming increasingly hot and humid. Just like checking for the time of the day I rarely check temperatures but I'm sure it was over thirty °C.
A little further on I had an enjoyable stop at a roadside vendor for a mid-morning snack. It was outside a construction site and many of the workers washed their meal down with beer!
I drank milk and ate stale bread and onion. I notice a lot more alcohol consumption in this part of China than in any other part. There are a couple of cheap crappy brands, one called Immaculate Beer. Three 500 ml bottles set you back about a euro. There are large stacks of this and the other cheap brands outside many grocery stores and inside restaurants.
I had my usual amount of interactions with the locals including a woman who was busy picking up a few large handfuls of giant scallions. An overloaded truck had just passed our spot and after hitting a bump it jettisoned them onto the road. As she loaded them onto her electric scooter, we just waved and I refused her offer of a handful.
A couple of days earlier I decided to end my circa 6,000-kilometre double trek of China at Weihai Port. I was just 260 kilometres away from the port. From there I plan to get a ferry to South Korea.
Pyongyang, the North Korean capital is just across the Yellow Sea from Weihai, my ultimate Chinese destination. I wondered if that was the reason that I saw some emergency shelter signage. Believe it or not, I did have my friend (Benjamin in Berlin) check out the possibility of me walking in North Korea but alas Kim Jong-Un was probably too busy for a coffee nuke or a chat over a cup of ginseng tea 
I have it on good authority that there is an Irish bar in their capital! All be it only North Koreans are allowed to visit!
At the end of that day, I camped in a playground area behind a restaurant in a quiet village.
First light is now around 4 AM and it would be prudent for me to start swinging my feet a little earlier in the day.
Sunday, May 12, I walked another 29 kilometres. Much of that was on minor roads and past such a diversity of strawberry, scallion and wheat fields. Also, cotton flurries, almost like snowflakes blew onto my sweaty face causing constant irritation.
With a good effort, I made it to a Cuijiajizhen town where I am taking a rest day today. On the way, I made just one stop when I briefly rested under a shaded bridge. It was an elevated rail line. As I finished my rest break a high-speed train rattled past and above the strong smelling onion fields.
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