China blog #71

China blog #71

I continued walking north at a pretty decent clip. As always cars and trucks overtook 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-inforsement of traffic rules is 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 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.