There we were on the 23rd May, sitting in The Shangri-La Hotel in Beijing, amazed we were finally here!  It had been a struggle to convince the organisers of the 2007 Peking to Paris that our 1953 Morgan plus four was up to the challenge (or was Philip Young more concerned with its proud, but ageing owner?!).  However, together with my son, I had prevailed over the doubts that the trusty Mog was up to the trials ahead and although we would have cause in the weeks ahead to question our confidence, we can look back now and say Yes, Mog did it magnificently and we would do it all over again!!

 

Having landed in Beijing we arrived to collect the Morgan from the warehouse to find its windscreen cracked – apparently from the vibration in the container.  We duly cellotaped it temporarily and drove it to the Shangri-La Car Park for scrutinizing, final preparations and to load our carefully packed bags into the miniscule space we had allowed ourselves for personal baggage.  Briefings and documentation followed and our confidence was boosted by the rally organiser publicly praising our choice of the Colway tyres.  We had obviously got something right – and he hadn’t noticed the cellotaped windscreen which, in fact, held together until we arrived back in the UK six arduous weeks later!

The next few days were spent making the most of the time in checking all was well with the car and being tourists, visiting Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City, by now completely lulled into a false sense of security by the apparent normality of the roads, the traffic, and the western overtones of life in a big city.