TYRE trouble! And gorgeous landscape in Guangxi, China, on the way from Hong Kong to London by bike

[@secretdaisy6484]

This is delightful! I biked 🚴 but didn't tour in mainland China. I played Mahjong 🀄, went to the countryside and rode a bus 🚌 with people from Confuscious’ home town. They were very proud and impressed that I knew who he was. They shared a hot green radish with me that is used to make Wasabi paste. I have so many wonderful memories. I met so many awesome people. Keep posting your journey. It’s such an inspiration. I don’t know how you got the courage to undertake such a journey all alone. This is fabulous. 👍☮️🌞🌟🏔🚵🏼‍♀️🀄💖

[@susannathornton]

Hi there! Thanks for watching and thank you for your lovely comment too! Glad you enjoyed the film!

[@andymorris8981]

I remain totally in awe of this series, I echo other comments your story telling is great and I'm always a little disappointed at the end of the episode... But I know there will be more... Good things come to those who wait. All the best Andy

[@susannathornton]

Oh that's such a nice comment, thank you Andy! Yes there will be more!

[@Punkyrooster6]

I love this historical approach to bike touring. Well done.

[@susannathornton]

Hi Timothy, thanks for the lovely comment! Glad you enjoy the films. More coming soon!

[@Muddy283]

The epic journey continues. I love the way you so effortlessly and artlessly weave your rich knowledge of Chinese history and culture into the documenting of your journey.

[@susannathornton]

Hi Muddy283! thanks for the lovely comment! really nice of you. Best wishes and hope you are well and having a good summer!

[@riggedforepic6293]

I am enthralled with these videos! 🙂 what an amazing story so far, do you think you will finish telling the story of this trip? Eagar to know what happened next. There are so many sights and sounds in these videos. I wonder how it has all changed or stayed the same. Do you still stay in contact with your cycling friends in China? Thanks for another great video 🙂 very inspiring

[@BrianthatiscalledBrian]

Incredible. Thanks for sharing, Susanna.👍🙂🚴‍♂️

[@susannathornton]

Haha yeh not too many people have done a ride like that, definitely not many solo women. I must make more of the films. Got a bit distracted from making them but I'll get back to it. Lots to do! Thanks for watching!

[@ODOB]

Another sterling job. I did wonder how you were able to communicate with the locals. Of course... you spoke mandarin. Roll on next episode, thanks for sharing.

[@peterschoen841]

Your story is amazing and i love how you tell it. Very inspiring. Thank you.

[@susannathornton]

Hi Peter! Thank you for the very nice comment x More coming soon!

[@troyhistory6139]

This is an old journey. New ones please. Love you to bits.

[@spencerdodds2207]

Said Mr History

[@berenicek9467]

Wow I can’t believe your comment! I love her journeys old and new. I especially appreciate her historical knowledge of the areas she is traveling through. She takes us on a trip through a country most of us will never personally travel. Thanks Susanna for such an interesting and well done video!

[@CoffeeMilkwIce]

Thanks for sharing your stories travelling solo from Hong Kong to London. Looking forward to the next episode.

[@susannathornton]

Hi! Thanks for watching and for writing. Yeh more coming soon - I got a bit distracted away from making these for a while, but yes, more coming soon!

[@tobewiser6738]

Wow super-bike-woman, love this, I hope we get to see the full trip adventure.

[@susannathornton]

Hi Tobe! thanks for the comment! Yes I am making films about the whole journey. It is nice to dust off all the material at last, piles of tatty diaries and notebooks, and all the maps and things that I used. Thanks for watching!

[@normhanson981]

Found your channel from a recommendation from an Irish lady u tube channel who rides her Brompton. Liked and subbed , you are very brave.

[@susannathornton]

Hi Norm! Thank you for watching! Glad you found both Miriam and me. Miriam seems to such a lovely person. Gorgeous films she makes! And it is brilliant to connect with likeminded people over youtube, I love that. Glad you like my films - more coming soon! Thank you for the lovely comment!

[@briantyhy4880]

you're a little brave heart. congrats and bravo to you for completing such a ambition trip

[@susannathornton]

Hi Brian! Aw thanks for the sweet comment!

[@ezebra2582]

You are an amazing person, so adventurous.

[@susannathornton]

Aw thanks ezebra! I have got buckets of raw material from that journey. I gotta make the rest of this series!!! I'll do it!

[@Eric-rt6tg]

What a great adventure that must have been. Liked it. 👍👌

[@susannathornton]

Hi Eric! Thank you for watching, and for the lovely comment! More in this series coming soon!

[@Eric-rt6tg]

Looking forward to it already,

[@DaveGoodman1959]

Well put together from your photos and very interesting. 👍

[@susannathornton]

Hi Dave! thanks for watching and for writing a lovely comment 😁

[@johngorentz6409]

These are good. I hope you'll do more of this series.

[@susannathornton]

Hi John! thank you for watching! glad you like them. Yes I'll do the whole journey. More coming soon. The recordings and diary etc etc from this journey all sat in boxes for years, cos after I got to the UK, I went back to work literally the next day, and never had time to do the films. It is nice to put these together at last. Thanks for writing!

[@LifeontwowheelsRocks]

Susanna, thank you so much for sharing your remarkable journey. I love the way the audio track matches the still images. Not sure how you made that happen, but the end result is perfect for telling this story. So many lessons to learn here on so many levels. Thank you, it is truly appreciated. David

[@susannathornton]

Many thanks David! Glad you enjoyed the film! Thanks for the lovely comment 🎵😁

[@jellyartist]

Hey Susanna. I love the gentle documentary telling. I bought some biscuits! Anyone who has had trouble with a tyre will be able to visualise the worry and frustration you must have felt - and where am I going to get water?. Such an intrepid journey and unusual telling and showing of things not normally seen, even now. Quiet, backwater existences that are rarely seen. Reality! It’s edgy stuff but told with a simple, trusting, reassuring edge. Thanks. I hope you are keeping well. Looking forward to your next films.

[@susannathornton]

Hi Vin! thanks for the super and really thoughtful comment. Yeh about the tyres, I was super worried about it and upset with myself. Big bad problem. The water thing that day was a different kind of problem, also worrying - I was really surprised how deserted it was. On the whole journey, I had one problem after another of course, like I imagine anyone would. Not just bike stuff but all sorts of little and big things that went wrong. Most of the problems were caused by me, actually, I realised - doing things wrong, making mistakes, and making bad decisions. I realised the most dangerous thing about the whole journey was not people or wild animals or weather or whatnot. It was me! Trust you are keeping well too! Best wishes!

[@jellyartist]

@@susannathornton Hi Susanna -That’s funny - in retrospect of course! I really sense the vulnerability,, which is in one way, why I find this so compelling. Take care if you are riding soon. The weather is all over the place this summer X

[@sw8536]

Amazing! You are a force! But also friendly, curious and kind. No wonder you received such kindness in return. Thank you for this. It's always a pleasure to watch your cycling adventures 😊.

[@susannathornton]

Hi S W! Thank you so much for the lovely comment, and for watching! Another film coming soon! Best wishes 😊🚲

[@Worldopain]

I love love love the way you tell stories. You focus on the same things I would. People, architecture, stories of hardship and over coming adversity. Thank you and safe travels from, Michigan, USA

[@susannathornton]

Hi worldofpain! Aw thanks that is such a nice comment. Yes I am really interested in those things, sounds like the same as you - people, architecture esp vernacular architecture, and landscape, and literature, and history. Thank you for watching!

[@daveadriffield7296]

Thank you. I look forward to hearing more adventures ☺.

[@susannathornton]

Hi Dave! Thanks for watching! and for your writing 😁

[@madiantin]

My gosh, absolutely fascinating. That rebellion where 20 million people died! Oh my goodness! So lovely to see all the families living there generations later, and that they were so happy someone was interested in their story. Funny that you had to get used to Yangshuo after the quietness and solitude of the road. That food sounds delicious. Apple pie and custard! Yum! 18:45 I thought at first you said you broke your leg and I nearly had a heart attack on your behalf. Had to back up and put on captions just to make sure - was so relieved I'd got it wrong. =D I am so loving this series. Thank you thank you so much for all your hard work not only editing it together, but taking those pictures and recording the sounds in the first place. This is a labour of love nearly two decades in the making, and it's so appreciated. Looking forward to the next video.

[@susannathornton]

Hi Madiantin! oh that is a very nice comment. Yes it is a kind of labour of love, you are right. Thank you for watching, and for writing such a nice comment. Best wishes!

[@madiantin]

@@susannathornton And to you!

[@tomtaylor9485]

Greetings from Ipswich 🇬🇧🇬🇧

[@willarn1]

Lovely.

[@lindaholmes1920]

What an amazing area with the pinnacles, and such an amazing story about the uprising.

[@susannathornton]

Hi Linda! thanks for writing! Yeh it is amazing. Actually the pinnacles area is a place that foreign tourists often visit (or used to in the days when it was possible 😌) - I expect quite a lot of people watching will have been. People do the gorgeous landscape and cormorants and rafts and things, but for various reasons don't generally get to find out about some big things have happened round there in the past, including the really quite recent past. So glad you liked the film! Thanks for watching!! Hope you are well and enjoying some cycling you too.

[@jamescarey7277]

Thank you for putting these videos together and sharing your adventures, really enjoying them and hope to see more.

[@susannathornton]

Hi James! Thanks for writing! yes there will be more. I am being slow about doing this series about riding back from China at the moment, cos got busy on other things, but will make more episodes put them up soon. Thanks for watching! Glad you like them!

[@alankennett9945]

Incredible journey Susanna, enjoyed it thoroughly. Amazing you did it solo, look forward to next episode.

[@susannathornton]

Hi Alan! thanks for the lovely comment! It was amazing and really interesting to do it solo. Actually I did arrange to do some sections with various friends who could take a week or two off work, and planned to join me for various bits, but in the end almost none of those plans worked out, because I was behind schedule or things went wrong with my visas etc. Some Hong Kong friends whom I was going to meet had a nice time cycling in Turkey without me, because I was about month behind schedule, still hacking through Central Asia. They did a recce for me basically haha. Always good to scout out good cafes. Anyway, next video coming soon..! Thanks for watching!

[@billyknox]

Class 😊

[@handsonbrompton7875]

So awesome 💪🏼👍🍻

[@susannathornton]

Hi Hands On! Thanks for watching! and for the lovely comment! 😎

[@lynnef4228]

Beautiful video. Interesting and inspirational. I am in awe of your bravery in tackling this amazing journey. Can’t wait for the next episode. Thank you for sharing this.

[@susannathornton]

Hi Lynne! Thanks for the really nice comment. Next one coming soon! I am working a "new" film about another Brompton ride I just did, and then I'll be making the next China episode... Thanks for watching!

[@IanBays]

Susanna. Another great video. We were in Guilin in around 2008 and rented cycles to explore the Karst hills and caves including a little tourist ride along the river. We also did a fantastic ballon flight in and around the Karst hills. There’s used to be a fantastic evening light shown in Guilin. I remember our trip well because I bought some suntan cream which did not work at all and I ended up looking like a beetroot. To be fair the shop assistant did try to warn me off the cheap brand but I though it would be OK. Anyway looking forward to seeing more of your trip.

[@susannathornton]

Hi Ian! thanks for the lovely comment! Sounds like you had a super trip there in the Guilin area. About getting sunburned eek poor you! Good story re the suncream haha. I'd got my arms really sunburned too, when I was in Guangdong, just being silly and not bothering with suncream at all cos I had been living out there so long and assumed I didn't need it. But my arms went pretty much beetroot too and I didn't have any long-sleeve things with me except warm clothes which I didn't want to put on. So at a village shop I had bought the blue cotton pull-on sleeves that I am wearing in some of the pics. I'd seen local people using them, over their clothes, to keep their real sleeves from getting dirty and worn. Good idea actually. And they worked well against the sun. Anyway, thanks so much for watching!

[@spencerdodds2207]

Great video! Interesting hearing your younger voice.

[@kc3718]

i thought that too, from Oxbridge /HK to more Mancunian ?

[@AS-ot9zk]

Yes from more received pronunciation (Oxford influence maybe?) back to Yorkshire.

[@user-sh8wn8ie4k]

This series is absolutely fascinating - absolutely in awe that you could unpack aspects of the history of these small towns for us. Thank you so much. Would you consider such a long journey on a brompton?? Or would that be just way off beam?

[@susannathornton]

Hi C! Aw thanks, glad you like these films. I must get more of this series done and out! Yeh I love history - people and places and stories. Actually about China in particular, I did a degree in Chinese and then PhD in Chinese history when i was young, so that helped a lot. Super teachers and fellow students. About the Brompton, well, good question.... Probably not. Reasons are partly luggage - I was travelling for a long time, 6 months, and through very different conditions from super hot desert to ice and snow. I had more different clothes with me for that reason, and just two panniers would have been a struggle. (Some things have changed though since then, eg I didn't have a smart phone. I was literally using books haha. I had a massive bird field guide with me haha!) Apart from that, I had no idea about the road conditions, and was expecting probably a lot of rough rubbly conditions, for which small wheels are less good than bigger ones. The cyclo cross bike was pretty much perfect for what I did. I can imagine if someone was doing it slightly differently - a "world tour" or long, cross-continental ride in sections, linking up the sections using public transport - then the Brompton could be fantastic I think. Still got the luggage issue to deal with, but I am could be done

[@peterforde9513]

Wonderful journey, thanks for sharing. When did you begin traveling by Brompton?

[@susannathornton]

Hi Peter! Thanks for writing. Well I got a Brompton when my Mum was ill, because it was really a hassle and stressful getting from London up to Stockport all the time, where she and my Dad were, as I needed to use a bike at both ends of the journey, and you had to book a bike space on the train, and I would buy an advance ticket ie a ticket for a particular train, and then separately had to try and book the bike on the same train, and I could never be sure I could get my bike on etc etc. So I got a Brompton then, to make the whole thing a bit less stressful. Then the camping thing started only 4 or 5 years ago, when an old schoolfriend invited me to her 50th birthday do. She is married to a Dutchman and they live in Holland. The weather forecast was good, so I thought I would cycle to the party - basically ride a day and a half across Essex to Harwich, take the ferry from there. It sounded like it would be simpler to take a Brompton, as I could just fold up the bike and carry it on board the ferry, instead of how it works with a "normal" bike, which has to be booked on, and then wheeled into the car deck and locked up down there with the lorries. So it seemed like it would be less hassle, and cheaper too as there was no need to pay for the folded Brompton. So I put my tent on the bike, chose a very small party dress that rolled up OK and didn't mind getting creased, and set off. It worked really well. Anyway, that's how I started with Bromptons. Thanks for watching!

[@sparkyvespa]

Thank you, really enjoyable watching. Please think about writing a cycle travel adventure book 📚

[@susannathornton]

Hi sparkyvespa! thanks for watching! glad you enjoyed the film! A book would be very nice. It is hard to get published. Maybe one day. Thanks for the lovely comment x

[@Onlinesully]

Hi Are these real time events ? either way what a lovely trip. Hope it went well for you. take care

[@susannathornton]

Hello! Thanks for the comment! Glad you like the films so far! I did that trip in 2006. After I reached London, I went straight back to work literally the next day actually haha cos I was late. All my photos and films and diaries and sound recordings etc just sat in a box for years after that. I didn't make any films then, got too busy with everything, and I didn't know how.

[@Onlinesully]

@@susannathornton oh right, i understand how what you are doing. you are literally like a film editor working with archived material. they are great trips really. I also loved in London for many years, in Northfields, in the ealing area, they were pleasant times, no complaints really, where about are you ?

[@bergolli1]

Hi Susanna, great adventure. What kind of tyres did you use? Looks like 35mm 700 C tire like Schwalbe Marathon Plus or so Thanks for the video and go on. Cheers

[@susannathornton]

Hi bergolli1! The main tyres I had were Specialised Nimbus Armadillo, which were picked for being supertough against punctures. Thanks for watching. Next one coming soon!

[@bergolli1]

@@susannathornton Thank you for answering my question. I am looking forward to the next video. Cheers! 🙂

[@julesmorrissey]

Everything is better with biscuits...🙂

[@susannathornton]

Haha thanks for the comment! yes that is true 😁

[@tomtaylor9485]

Just 👍👍

[@susannathornton]

Thanks Tom! I'll do some more of this series soon....!

[@bobalinga]

Amazing film Susanna. Do you speak mandarin?

[@susannathornton]

Yes! I do. I did a BA in Chinese, then a PhD in Chinese history when I was young

[@bobalinga]

Brilliant. My son learned mandarin but most people he meets in the uk speak Cantonese. Huge achievement tho. Love your Brompton adventures. Just come back from a weekend in the new forest with a bunch of bromptoneers. 'A fold of Bromptons' maybe.

[@davidhale1568]

I bought a packet of biscuits and set off 😊

[@susannathornton]

Hi David! haha yes! they were really good biscuits actually cos I found a bakery like they used to have in Taiwan, with tons of pineapple buns and whatnot on shelves, and you use tongs and pick up what you wanted. Nice! Definitely felt like I could tackle Guangxi province once I had stocked up there haha.

[@davidhale1568]

@@susannathornton spoken like a true cyclist 😊

[@songqizhang6687]

哦，还曾到过中国。希望能给您留下好的印象。