The Great Wall’ker

Shandan has a cement factory close by and as we walked eastward to find the Great Wall we could smell smoke from the factory. It persisted as we walked along the main road out of town. We soon found the Great Wall and apart from a couple of places it was easy to walk along it.

We took refuge inside the Great Wall twice today. First to get out of the heat in the middle of the day and later to get out of the cold wind. Cold wind you may ask? If my GPS is correct we have been walking at about 1.800 metres above sea level, so if it is cloudy and the wind blows hard, it can get pretty cold here.

After walking half the day we came to a place where the Ming and Han Dynasty Walls run in parallel very close to each other, one bigger than the other.  One place they were only ten metres from each other. With dark clouds and rain heading in from behind us, it made for good photography.

We are staying at a roadside motel tonight. Jon spoke to some of the drivers and they told us they expected rain tonight.

The valley we have been following lately is called the Hexi Corridor. As we moved on today, we started to notice subtle differences in the landscape. The mountains to the left are smaller, a valley takes off to our right in a Y junction and the valley we are following also starts bearing off to the right too.

As we closed in on a fascinating Beacon Tower, we almost ended up becoming part of the landscape. Just in front of the tower there was a four metre/twelve foot wide pit that we noticed just in time. As we got closer a bird of prey suddenly flew out from a hole and scared us. We went closer to the edge but could not see the bottom. We didn’t dare get too close to the edge for fear of the earth falling in on us. I hope the kids in the area stay far away from this pit.

Perhaps some of these geographical attributes of the area can explain why Shandan, where we are now, became a famous centre for horse breeding. The Mongolians could get in to the valley where the mountians were not so high and the place is close to the junction of three valleys.

We have followed The Wall wherever we found it. Tomorrow we expect a continuous Wall, or even two, as in some places the Ming Dynasty Great Wall lies only ten metres away from the Han Dynasty Great Wall.

We walked 23 km today and are content, and so are our bodies. We might spend the day tomorrow taking pictures of ourselves in the landscape and at our tent camp tomorrow evening. It is far too easy to walk the entire Great Wall without taking any pictures showing us out there! Thanks for the reminder Tor.

As we walked in to Shandan at around 7.30 PM, we were greeted with many ‘Hellos’ from kids on their way from school.

We thought we were in the middle of a desert (and we are), but today the weather forecast displayed underneath holds true. It has been raining steadily for quite a long time. Jon is reading “Meditations” by the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius in Chinese and translating the good bits to me. I am reading through and answering lots of old mails and will upgrade the web site here and there.

Jon decided not to walk today but will probably join me tomorrow. He tested his new shoes yesterday and they had about the same amount of cushioning, but are more blister friendly than his other shoes. (Read: They keep the blisters away)

I took the bus to the last stopping point and doing this alone is a good way of learning as I go. In the morning I asked Jon for the words I thought would be necessary for the day and then if anything went wrong he’s just a phone call away. Luxury!

It was very windy at the place we stopped yesterday and in an effort to get away from the wind, I headed for some trees on the other side of a railway line. A little further south, I saw a couple of beacon towers and headed to the largest one to register it on the GPS.

By the time I got there the wind had picked up even more. There were some locals not far away. I needed to pee so I got into battle stations for the event. The only problem was that because I was close to the beacon tower, to keep out of sight from the locals, the wind changed direction dramatically at random intervals. So although all was well when I started, I soon had to stop and turn around to point out of the wind again. All things considered, it was a success, and my trousers are just as clean as they were this morning…  

I continued to follow a line of beacon towers, but was soon distracted by a nice fortress and had a rest on the inside which gave shelter from the wind. Then I saw some geniune Great Wall for the first time in a while and followed this for 4-5 km. By that time it had also started to rain and combined with the wind it was getting cold. So - ‘only’ 15 km today.

Hopefully the wind will drop through the night but unfortunately, from the looks of the weather forecast there is going to be both wind and rain tomorrow.

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PICTURE GALLERY

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Today we got 25 km closer to Shandan. This is the next place where we will find a continuous stretch of the Great Wall again. We are looking forward to getting there as we have heard a rumour that the place is famous for its horse markets. Shandan used to supply the military with horses and was one of the largest and most important res-horses in China!!.

The weather was really grey yesterday, but after some more rain during the night we have had blue skies today. We had a great view of the Dragon Head Mountain range to the north. Some of these snow capped mountains are more than 3.600 metres high, and taking into consideration that we were at about 1.500 metres, it is an impressive sight.

In ancient times, the Chinese would name mountains according to their appearance. Some would end up as sleeping dragons under the mountains. When there was an earthquake, it could be explained - it was the dragons moving under the mountain. In fact, in the art of drawing maps it was often more important that the dragons features were well preserved than that the map was flawless, geographically speaking.

We walked along small dirt roads again for about the first half of the day. Then we followed a small road heading for Shandan. We had some meat and vegetable noodles for lunch. Jon got talking to the guy that ran the business, and he was well informed about many things. He asked Jon if he could show him some money from Europe.  Jon showed him a 5 Euro note. He told us that it had been a good day on the stock market today and that the oil was now selling at $67 a barrel. We were impressed. After all, we were sitting in a very small restaurant situated between Zhangye and Shandan.

Towards the end of the day, we came to a line of 5 beacon towers that stretched between the mountain range and the road. There were even small bits of the Great Wall there and remnants of an old fortress.

Yesterday - rest day in Zhangye.

It rained last night and we woke to a grey and cold day. My brother Jon decided to stay in Zhangye as he does not want to walk too much on hard surfaces, and we won’t be walking along the Great Wall for another couple of days. I set off, taking a taxi to the last stop point. After getting into the car, I started fastening my seat belt and noticed sand and dirt pouring out from the back part of the seat belt, which obviously had not been used for several years. So I just let it go, and the belt and most of the dirt returned back into it’s resting position…

The cold weather was perfect for walking. Luckily I managed to find a lot of dirt roads so that I wasn’t dodging cars all the time. It was grey though and towards the end of the 25 km, it started blowing a lot too. I put on my lightweight windproof jacket, and it kept me warm and cosy. It also kept me dry. Previously, I have only brought a Gore Tex jacket for hikes and used this both against wind and rain, but it is a shame to put on a jacket that prohibits air circulation to protect oneself against the wind, as it soon gets humid on the inside. The windproof jacket is very light and has excellent breathing qualities that is many times better than any Gore Tex product. Highly recommended and very comfortable.

After 25 km, I decided to get back to Zhangye, and headed south towards a road where there should be some traffic. I was incredibly lucky and only two minutes after getting to the road jumped on a bus heading for Zhangye.

Yesterday I took the bus back to where we left off the day before. My brother stayed in Zhangye to rest his feet and make the final adjustments to the ‘fine mechanics’ behind the picture gallery.

I went hunting for The Wall after a tip from Andreas of the Great Wall Forum. I found what could have been a small fortress and a wall following the rim of the mountainous terrain before disappearing in a valley.

I walked on through the valley and climbed to a watchtower that had several small mounds like here. The mounds however were too old to determine whether they were old stoves or burial sites. The soil in the area seemed to be full of minerals. Some places the rust poured out of the soil.

Later on I followed the road and then soon followed the river, which was great. The cars and lorries were replaced with shepherds and their sheep. A good swap.

To the north watchtowers were scattered along the ridge of the mountains, but no Great Wall. The landscape was amazing. Wild jagged hills that seemed impossible to lead an army through.

I decided to cross a dike at one place to get closer to some big storks on the other side of the river. I took off my shoes and started to wade over the river. Close to the other side I noticed the carcass of a dead hen lying in the water close to my feet. I quickly got to the other side, went upstream and tried to wash my feet where the blisters are still open. Anyway - I got some pretty good pictures of the storks in flight…

We woke up in the Temple at five o’clock to bells being rung, but soon fell asleep again. We walked 25 km yesterday and were tired. (And so were our sore feet) At about eight o’clock we got up.  The Monks invited us to breakfast consisting of white bread buns and a thin soup.

We had a good talk to the leader of the Temple who told us that he had travelled around China for 20 years, seeking out wise people in order to learn from them. If only I had done the same!!, then I might have had the wits not to follow my dream of walking the Great Wall of China…

My brother and I got off to a fairly late start after talking to the Monks.  We kindly thanked them for their generosity in offering us a place to spend the night.

Then we started walking again, and after a while we noticed it had started blowing hard. Also, the skies were getting darker and darker. We looked at each other and both thought ’sandstorm’.  This was later confirmed by a person we asked in a small village. After walking for a while and assessing our soles and souls, we decided to call it a day and took a bus to Zhangye.

We are really happy about the decision because it has been raining hard whilst we have been here. We have made a decision that we are not going to kill ourselves, but rather enjoy life now and again and that is what we are doing right now.

If you want to have some fun with Google Earth, go to the Great Wall Route, and zoom right in on the blue marker for the 6th of May (day of year: 125), and you can see the Temple where we spent the night.

We awoke to the beeping of a local bus early in the morning. All vehicles here like to beep their horn to let you know they are coming. The buses take this one step further and beep a lot to attract potential customers. They have extra strong horns mounted too. I reckon you can hear a bus a good 10 minutes before it arrives because of the beeping.

We got off to an early start and have eaten all meals in shops along the road today. We took a two hour break at one o’clock and had a sleep. Luckily, it wasn’t so hot today.

Towards the evening, we started looking for a suitable place to spend the night and heard of a Buddhist Temple in the area. We are now spending the night here! It is a very peaceful place and we are grateful for the hospitality the Monks have shown us.

The local Policeman showed up to take our details which is customary for hotels etc. He was a pleasant and helpful man who went to great lengths to ensure that we were well provided for, which we are. This is a rare experience.

Apparently they get up at 5 AM, so it is time to do what everybody else is doing here and sleep!

We are in our tents now after about 20 km walking. It has been really hot today, so I’m drinking water now. Even took a salt tablet as I have been sweating a lot because of the cold I was blessed with yesterday.

There is a lot of agriculture here, and there have been people walking along almost the whole route today. When we had had enough for the day, we got off the main main road and looked around for a place to pitch our tents. Then we looked some more, and even more! All the land is used as farming land! In the end Jon found a small cluster of trees with some space between, and that is where we are now.

I have decided to try and shave some more weight off the rucksack. More about that when we get to Zhangye.

Yippeeee!!! Just felt the first cool breeze go through the tent, so hopefully it will be OK to sleep. Lying in my (very) lightweight underpants on top of the sleeping bag now.

Good night.

This is a field test and in fact right now we are beside a field relaxing. It is hot and we will rest for an hour before moving on. This morning we were about to activate the picture gallery, but were told we had to vacate the room, so the picture gallery will be activated once we get to Zhangye.

The map is up to date again and from now on we will update the web site each evening providing it doesn’t cost too much, and that there isn’t too much sand or dust in the air as I don’t want to open the guts of this HTC S740 that I am enjoying using.

We will be walking along a small road to the north of the Black River the next few days. The Great Wall has probably disappeared because of agriculture, but in a couple of days we will start seeing plenty of beacon towers. We have already passed one today.

Today I walked from the last stopping point to the bridge just northeast of Gaotai. A total of 33 km (20 miles).  Jon stayed in Gaotai for the day.

Since the rain had washed all the sand away, the day was very different to the last time we were walking. Less wind and the sky was clear blue. I had a great view of the mountain range to the southwest.

Most of the walking was in the desert. Some places it was the traditional image of a desert with sand dunes, but other places the sand was replaced with small stones and pebbles.

Several times today I saw beautiful watchtowers of the Great Wall. I also walked past what was probably the largest watchtower along the entire Wall. It was huge and just looking at it from the outside must have scared the enemies of the Middle Kingdom. It is now starting to fall apart. Large chunks have fallen down from the sides, but it was still monumental.

Later on I walked past a large fortress. Its walls were 6-8 metres high (20 - 26 feet). On the inside there was a dense forest and for the first time I saw all the leaves on the ground that, with time, will turn into soil. There seems to be a continual battle between the desert and people planting trees here. Some places the desert stopped right next to a road, while other places the planted trees stretched for half a mile into the desert.

Although the title of this post is ‘rest day’, we don’t sit on our bottoms all day long. Every evening I have written notes about the day, the pictures I have taken and the people we have met. So today I wrote everything onto the computer and took an online backup, charged camera batteries and telephone batteries, transferred pictures to the computer, tested a Chinese Nokia phone to see if I could get online with it to update this website when we are walking.

We also washed our clothes and made adjustments to our equipment. I installed a program for this web site that should enable me to make daily (!) updates of the site when we are walking. I will have to use the Norwegian SIM card and will have to check how much this costs after a week, to make sure it is not killing my budget for the trip.