THE Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City and Tiananman Square all featured in PC Stewart Pearce's

260-mile bicycle ride through China.

Stewart raised the necessary £2,500 to allow him to take part in the event, organised by the charity Mencap — he hopes to exceed that amount by approximately £1,000 when all monies are in.

Leaving Tavistock and Princetown — where he is community constable — Stewart joined 90 other riders aged from 20 to 71 from all over the UK to fly to Beijing.

Once at their hotel, an hour's drive away, they were fitted out with 18-gear mountain bikes.

Their first destination was Mutianju to see the Great Wall of China. 'From the car park you could either walk up to the wall or use the ski lift, and coming down there was the additional option of using a chute on a mat.

'The overwhelming impression was how friendly the Chinese were; they would stop and shake your hand and smile,' said Stewart.

They covered 38 miles in the first day, cycling in temperatures of around 40°C, and some riders suffered from heat stroke. But two doctors on the back-up team were able to look after them.

Most of the ride was through countryside, and Stewart's general impression was of plenty of villages, a surprisingly large number of beehives, fields of crops and workers in uniforms. The roads were far better than he had expected — at least as good as Tavistock's.

The second hotel they stayed at was called 'The Oil Workers' Sanitorium' — a not very inspiring name, but of the same high standard as all the hotels, with swimming pool and bowling alley and 15 chambermaids to each floor.

The second day was longer and harder going, through hilly and mountainous terrain.

They went through an industrial area, with coal mines and chemical factories pumping out pollution. They had been told to bring masks to wear, but Stewart found it too hard to cycle with his on. 'We were given a fresh T-shirt each day, and at the end of that day mine was black,' he said.

By the third day the riders were starting to get acclimatised. They visited the Great Wall again, this time at Badaling, which Stewart said was the best place to see it: 'The Chinese have done a lot of refurbishment here and there are shops, ornate building and a proper entrance. You can see the wall snaking away as far as the eye can see.'

Day four dawned and the regime remained strict, with little time to eat breakfast, pack bags, get water, fill saddle bags and have the briefing. 'But as an ex-marine I found it easy — home from home!' said Stewart.

There were plenty of chances for fast downhill rides on this day as the countryside was very hilly again.

The hotel that night was 'like a tourist resort', with bungee jumps, loud music and boating ponds.

By now tiredness was beginning to set in as they had ridden 200 miles in all.

The final day on the bikes started with a ride back out of the valley they had ridden through the previous day at sunset — giving it a brand new perspective. By then the riders had learned a few Chinese words, and the locals were surprised when they greeted them in their own language.

There were a few surprises for the riders: 'The villagers leave their corn on the road and as people ride over it they thresh it for them,' he said.

The ensuing 10-mile climb up the side of a mountain was the hardest of the week. Stewart's bike started knocking, so one of the back-up engineers put in new gears, which made his the best bike in the pack.

Then it was on to a long boulevard leading to the Marco Polo bridge where the explorer came ashore and signed a treaty. It is made of stone with about 60 lions, each with a different facial expression.'

The ride into Beijing went past Tiananman Square.

They were pleased and relieved when they reached their hotel that they had completed the final day, and were given champagne and medals to celebrate.

The following morning they were treated to an English fried breakfast and cereal. 'The only drawback,' said Stewart, 'was they seemed to think that we fry eggs the night before, so they were a bit hard!'

This was followed by a coach trip to the Forbidden City, where The Last Emperor was filmed and where several emperors lived.

Inside were 'incredible treasures', all made about the 14th century and before.

After lunch, it was on to the Summer Palace. For Stewart the highlights were the Chinese boats on the lake, and the longest corridor in the world, lined with paintings.

After taking part in a tea ceremony they visited a silk market, where Stewart bought a Chinese hat, complete with pigtail.

After visiting the local vegetable market they experienced the Beijing Opera, 'a combination of theatre, singing and acrobatics, with lots of cymbals'.

After 23 hours ' travelling, Stewart arrived home, but he was back at work the following morning patrolling the streets of Tavistock in the police car — albeit wondering what country he was in!

Stewart expressed thanks to everyone — too numerous to mention here — who supported him by fundraising or donations.

'The support from businesses and organisations in Tavistock and Princetown has been tremendous. I couldn't have done it without them,' he said.