My world walk blog china part two #31

My world walk blog china part two #31

Based on a Facebook post

I have now hoofed it on foot for more than 75,555 combined kilometres for both my world run and my world walk.

That just me into second place just ahead of my friend Jean for the second most covered expedition kilometres on foot! Less than 2,000 kilometres ahead of me is my other great friend Masahio from Japan who has the lead and is on a long break from the road, so I should overtake him before the end of the year! Thanks to every single person who made this happen, be they a sponsor, host, friend or offered me hospitality along my way. 

It was a bit of an anti-climax when I passed that kilometre mark for I just kept walking. I have always believed its about the smiles and not the miles, still, I do come from a competitive background and I know a lot of my followers are interested in this stuff. 

Two days ago a man on a motorcycle stopped and then turned around and went on ahead eight kilometres out of his way to the next town and bought me some water and sweet bread. I don't feel comfortable accepting such snacks here as I did in richer countries like Australia and New Zealand for the man probably doesn't earn much money. But after him going to all that trouble how could I refuse without bursting his bubble or offending? Thank you, my friend. That day I walked 35 kilometres and camped on some wasteland and out of sight from the road behind a huge pile of sand.

Yesterday afternoon I was following some minor roads and all of a sudden the road ran out for a bridge had somehow collapsed. So that was a pain as it meant an extra seven kilometres round trip back. I don't count such kilometres as they are not advancing me. I do count as extra kilometres I get lost so long as they are not in a loopback. By that, I mean that it's up to me to decide my routes, so by extension I'm not obliged to take the shortest route. So a long way even if I got lost is just another alternative route! 

That's what happened yesterday. I walked north for about five kilometres before I realised my error. Luckily there was a road that went east, so I took it. By the end of the day, I must have walked close to kilometres and will just record 30 in my logbook. I finished late and camped in a forest. Just as I arrived at the place to camp I busted a hub on my front wheel. I have a spare wheel and replaced it before setting out this morning. Karma is getting such a battering on these appalling roads. Pretty soon I'm going to have to figure out how to modify some new rear 20 inch wheels for Karma. Hers are specialised quick release and I may have to get some regular bicycle wheels and respoke them by using her hubs. Problem is the spoke count is different but I will have to leave four holes without spokes. 

As I have been camping these last two nights I have had to make extra stops in restaurants and grocery stores to keep my phone charged up. I need it for my maps as its so easy to get list here. I had been using a great offline map called Maps.me but it stalled as it needed an update before I could open it again. Unfortunately, it wasn't updating on my data. So, I was lucky that I also had my VPN so as I could follow the blocked Google Maps. I tell you, there is always an issue on the road!