Our ride through the industrialised east of China was a contrast to our earlier experience of the country’s rural areas. Lorries clogged the roads and our eyes smarted from the smog and pollution in the air. Today there was an air of expectation tinged with sadness; it was our last day of riding as we headed into Beijing itself. The Expressway was beckoning; this is a system of motorway toll roads which enable traffic to move speedily across China and on which motorbikes are strictly not allowed. For days we’d been gazing with envy at the lucky cars as they sped along while we were caught up in traffic snarls on the much slower roads. The no bikes rule had not stopped some of our group from trying though, with the fearless Waltzing Matildas being turned away on no less than four occasions…in just one day. Today was our chance though; we were to be allowed to use the “Forbidden Fruit” as the area manager of the Expressway into Beijing is a fan of BMW bikes and gave us special dispensation to ride in along it. We enjoyed the feel of once more using the higher gears on the bike, easily covering distances which would have taken us much longer on the other roads, but we also realised that actually we could be riding at home on roads like this and not on the other side of the world. On the super-fast road we missed seeing the trucks with their comedy loads, the sight of whole families crammed onto one scooter and the smiles and waves of the other drivers as we passed by. So maybe there is a trade-off and actually going the fastest route isn’t the best way to travel.
As the outskirts of Beijing loomed, a group of local BMW riders turned up to escort us into the city, they were delighted to see us, and we were to see them as we were just about lost at that point (mentioning no names). A brisk 20 minute ride ensued as we followed them weaving expertly through the chaotic traffic (they were decidedly more expert than us) and led us to the BMW dealership where a gala reception awaited us. Music, tables laden with food, a massive welcome banner, crates of chilled beers and crowds of people congratulating us and wanting to hear all about our ride and the adventures we’d had.
As we lined up for photos and presentations, with the festivities just beginning, the incredible feeling of “We’ve made it” ran through us all as we grinned and congratulated one another, together our multinational group from America, Australia, Sweden, Switzerland and Britain had completed this incredible 13,000 mile ride across the planet’s largest landmass and despite accidents, earthquakes and government disapproval we’d even managed to arrive on time after 80 days on the road. It was definitely time to celebrate.
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