10th December 2006

The last week and a half were incredibly tough, I had a total of 3 punctures, 2 crashes, a dodgy 'taxi' driver dropping me in a small town in the middle of nowhere and most days being well over 60 miles, 100 km. I'll try to update the last few weeks of journal shortly but there's a lot of work to be done here no least being TV, press and presentations which I wasn't really expecting! I just wanted to do a quick entry about my arrival as it was so special but do keep your eye out as I'll be updating here whenever possible.

Because of the closed-area around the edge of Hong Kong we decided it best that I walk across the border as is usual and get a train from the other side across the closed area. To get to Crossroads in time for possible media interest and to allow for any problems I needed to be crossing the border early so I got a bus on Sunday from Guangzhou to Shenzen on the border.

The border crossing was a little interesting, trying to find my way round a pedestrian border with lots of stairs was often a little tricky but fortunately a few helpful strangers gave me a bit of help avoiding some of the staircases and in other areas I found lifts. The border crossing was smooth until I'd passed through customs when I was faced with a long flight of stairs or an escalator. It was quite busy so I opted for the empty stairs to keep myself out of the way. It was a hard push with no assistance from around about but I did manage to push my way up and there were lifts after that. The Hong Kong side again went smoothly and people and the assistants where generally pretty helpful. The border exited straight into the KCR (train) station and while I was still trying to figure out how to refill the octopus travel card that Katie in Guangzhou had given me an official came up and said I couldn't take the bike on their trains which made things a little tricky as I couldn't go back across the border with a single entry visa and I wasn't allowed out of the station except by train because of the closed zone! Fortunately when I asked how I could get to Shung Shui he said I could send it as baggage for HK$50 I was worried that would mean it arriving 3 days later or something but infact it just meant a guy escorting me through to Shung Shui pushing the bike (exactly as I could've done as there are lifts everywhere!!) but it was only about 4 GBP and it's always better to do it the official way!

At Shung Shui I was expecting to meet Kara from Crossroads at the station and after a phone call and a bit of wandering around by Kara and co she found me. To my surprise she had in tow my parents in lovely new Crossroads t-shirts. I later found out they had literally 30 hours before decided they could possibly miss my arrival & jumped on a plane for a Hong Kong day trip! (well planes actually, they couldn't get tickets on the same plane!) It was a lovely & complete surprise to have them there for this special occasion. Lin from Crossroads also came to capture the whole event on camera (see photos for Lin's short 'Chariots of Fire' video). From the station there was another flight of stairs to negotiate but it was a lot easier with Dad's help and descending helped too! I had to wait a while at the bottom which made wonder what they were planning but knowing the Crossroads team I was sure it was too be a good surprise!

Having been on the road for so long not speaking a lot of English and concentrating more on cycling than anything else i was a little bemused by questions as we waited but it was just fantastic to be in friendly easy to communicate with company again and know I'd be staying for a while to! We wandered down the road and I could see a few distinctive red t-shirts in the distance which I guessed were probably some of the Crossroads team but I was astonished to see when we got closer and Lin pointed out the 10 strong cycle escort, banner covered truck and 2 support vehicles which would be bringing me home to Crossroads! Although I had been told there would be some escort this was far more than I imagined and all on a Crossroads day off too! We followed Mr Li one of the Crossroads drivers as he knew the roads and although we lost the vehicles a few times we easily covered the distance in the time despite my chain falling off every few miles as its stretched out of all proportions and I can't adjust the eccentric bottom bracket at the moment. WE stopped for lunch a few km from the Crossroads warehouse so they could finish off setting up things & hit the time given in the press release. We then then spent a bit of time practicing our 'arrow-head' approach & drumming it into my head the final route as I'd be leading us in and had only been to this site once 3 years ago and didn't remember a lot!

It was an amazing entry with the arrow head working very well and the majority of the Crossroads team (60 strong) cheering me over the finish line and home! There were 3 newspapers at the arrival which inevitably meant lots of questions and staged photos but it is all good publicity for the good work being done by Crossroads. We had a little ceremony with a podium, champaign and a few speeches. More questions and photos before I heading into the site for some food at the reception. It was a fantastic end to a fantastic day and a fantastic trip which I know I will remember for all my days!

Thanks to all of you for your help and support it has been an amazing opportunity for me to see the world, see the need that exists around the world and to help alleviate that need in a small way through Crossroads. I'm now planning on a few days rest and website update before starting proper work with Crossroads!

Thanks again

Tim