China Blog #68.

China Blog #68.

So for the long delay in making this update. Please scroll back to China #54 and read up to and including this post. They are based on my Facebook posts so I apologise for any confusion.

I had a great St Patricks night in the Red Lion bar in Wuxi. When I walked out of the city the following afternoon my destination for that week was Yangcheng, 222 kilometres to the north. This past week the weather has improved. After three weeks of rain, it's now back to warm days. That's yet another winter I escaped without any adverse weather. Last winter I was in Australia and for a European, that doesn't count as cold! My previous winter was in Mongolia and China where I had only about a dozen really cold days. So, not too bad!
I left Karma, my cart with my friend Don Kenny in Wuxi as I'm going to return there on Sunday. As mentioned in a previous post, I'm going back to Ireland for a short break and to take care of some personal business. So with a backpack, it will be easier to return on a bus for my flight. I didn't take much in the backpack, just a minimal amount of clothes, a summer sleeping bag, waterproof bivvy, a phone charger and my log book. Stupidly I also took a pair of heavy waterproof boots that I bought in Wuxi.
I walked for a long time that day and after exiting the city I didn't pass any shops. Just as my belly was about to fall out I came to a roadside vendor who was selling delicious fried bread. I had my fill while chatting to the friendly woman.
I was saddened to see the cruel sight of several cages of chicks that were squashed too closely together into small cages. They were then stacked into the underneath luggage compartment of a bus.
It was around ten pm when I reached Qingyang town. Stuck for a place to sleep and starry night that it was I slept on a bench outside the Transport Police office on the outskirts of the town. Due to my late start, I did well to clock out with 30 kilometres. The following morning I left early and before they arrived.

  I continued walking north at a pretty decent clip. As always cars and trucks were overtaking each other at an alarmingly dangerous rate. They take so many risks even when there is an approaching vehicle. Many drivers drive with a bully mentality, knowing well that they can force drivers out of their path and sometimes into the hard shoulder I walk on. Rarely do I see a courteous driver. I see so much stupidity and even with some slow moving vehicles with drivers driving in the overtaking lane while on a mobile phone. As always this is greeted by impatience and more risk-taking maneuvers. Cultural impatience and non-enforcement of traffic rules are behind it all.

That morning for a few kilometres I walked on a tree-lined grassy stretch which was a couple of metres off the road. I was able to walk there and off the road as I was walking with a backpack. One advantage of backpacking as opposed to pushing a cart is that I can sometimes walk off-road or hop over a crash barrier and walk along with it and away from the maddening road for short stretches. It was a warm day and I welcomed the shade which the trees afforded me.

After twenty kilometres I arrived at the south bank of the Yangtze River. This is Asia's longest river and is 6,380 kilometres long (almost 4,000 miles) It is the third-longest river in the world but the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to walk across. There is a ferry service for pedestrians and bikes but it about twenty-five kilometres to the west and off my route. Had I gone there then I would have had to walk a similar distance back to my route. As I have already walked this continent and my current walking in east China is all 'extra' walking I felt that I was entitled to take a bus across the bridge and this would not be considered cheating. Especially when it is illegal to walk across.

I would, of course, restart immediately at the riverbank. Even Guinness World Records have a rule that all road regulations have to be obeyed. I have always operated to a higher standard than that of the self-appointed so-called authority of extreme sports. To me, GWR is merely an entertainment manual. They are not a governing body of any sport.

I'm following (and even exceeding) the minimum requirements of the World Runners Association  (WRA) who are the recognised governing body for around the world runners. They also encourage world walkers to follow these guidelines. If you are interested in checking out these rules please Google WRA/constitution

Had this been on my original route across for sure I would have gone out of my way to avoid the bridge gap but as I mentioned this is extra walking and I genuinely believe my decision was credible.

The bus drove over the Yangtze River which is about 2.5 kilometres across. I didn't get much of view out of the crowded bus. Then I wanted to get out but I couldn't as it was a motorway.

I had my restart location on the north bank of the river bookmarked on my map and stayed on the bus for a further seven kilometres to the next town called Jingjiang. Once I got there I dropped my backpack in a hotel and got a taxi back to the north bank. Then I walked a further kilometre until I was satisfied it was a good match with the point I left on the south side. Whatever about an unavoidable bridge gap there will be no road gap that I can help on this global walk. I was tired that night and the last thing I wanted to do was to go out there that night and walk the eight kilometres along route 229, but I did because it was the right thing to do. Had I not have walked them nobody would have known. Only the most important person, me. I couldn't do that and just gloss over it. A lifetime to regret it and a two-hour effort to be proud of.

I walked for four more days churning out 33 kilometres followed by a 37, a 44, and for Saturday it was 29 kilometres. That took me to Dagangzhen. Yancheng, where I planned to pause my run, was just 20 kilometres away. So far 28,804 kilometres have been walked in 849 road days. 

From Yancgeng I declared my timeout/ visa run from the walk and travel back to Ireland. I fly on Wednesday from Shanghai and today I will make my way back to Wuxi to stay with my great friend Don Kenny. It goes without saying that I will return to the exact same spot in Yancheng after this three-week break in Ireland.