Mid-afternoon. Ignore the Shanding Village Committee. Instead focus on fifty seven kilometres – about thirty six miles – to Shenzhen. City bordering Hong Kong – Chiang Kang in local parlance. Very close now. Focused riding. Covering the equivalent of cycling from London to Bristol. In nine hours.
Penultimate day in China. Tomorrow Christmas Eve. Crossing the border into the former British colony. Joining fellow Englishman Phil for some festive celebrations. And marking the end of Asia. Second continent then complete.
As the final full day in China, it was a fine test of skill. Provincial towns to navigate. A large city to circumvent. Huizhou. Minor roads. Dual carriageways. Now as adept at reading the road signs as finding somewhere to stop. Usually in a matter of minutes.
Not without a little drama. A long line of women at the roadside, south of the city of Huizhou, selling replica handguns and crossbows. The latter looked pretty real. Pulled up sharply. Curious. Thought it might make an interesting photograph. Instead an amateurish attempt at distraction theft. Petty pilfering a rarity, but still disappointing.
