The Great Wall’ker

There was a wedding at the hotel I was prescribed to use.  As I was checking out, there were fireworks right outside of the reception. It was so intense that ALL the people inside held their ears! A fun way to celebrate and looked like all the children (Including me) were enjoying it.

After walking about 20 kilometres, I came to a small village. I asked a woman if there was anywhere to get a meal and she pointed Northwards and said it wasn’t far away. I walked to the place and as I was turning a corner met an old man who was leaving the restaurant, plus three loose dogs.

One of them started making a foul noise and it basically attacked me! I had the walking stick at bay, and used one to pin it down. It didn’t give in so easily, so I whacked it with the other walking stick. I also tried to keep an eye on the other two dogs, as I thought they may be wanting to join the party. The old man walked over to the dog and picked it up. The two other dogs turned out to be friendly.  I guess the dog that attacked me was scared to see me and wanted to protect his owner.

The people that owned the restaurant were very friendly. Particularly the son in the house. He was ten years old and offered to sell one of his puppies to me. He started with a price of RMB 50 (Kr 50 / $8) I turned down the offer, although the dog was great! He asked if I wanted the dog and I said truthfully that I would like the dog, but I couldn’t. The young boy changed tactics and went for RMB 80 (Kr 80 / $13) I didn’t quite understand his move, but said no again. Then he resigned and offered it to me for RMB 20 (Kr 20 / $3) Yet again I had to say no.  By this time the food had come, so I started eating.

I would like to have the company of a dog on this trip, but walking for days in scorching heat in the desert and knowing that a very cold winter is on it’s way, it would be too much hassle to have to cater for the dog as well as myself. Many places, the Great Wall is very steep also and the dog would need help to follow me.

I walked on. As it got dark, the mosquitoes came out in large numbers. It was still very hot, so I had the choice between rolling down my sleeves or being eaten by the mosquitoes. A pretty hard choice to make. There was no wind, so the flock of mosquitoes managed to follow me. Every time there was a slight gust of wind from behind, they blew in front of me, and I had to take on a full frontal assault. At this point I decided to make a mosquito net when i got back to Yinchuan.

It was completely dark when I came to a small village and asked if there were any guest houses. At first I was told there weren’t. After looking and asking around for a while a man I had previously asked, opened a door to reveal a room with four beds. He wanted 5 RMB (Kr 5 / $1) for the bed. After a while I went out to thank him and found him sitting on a bed by the road. It turned out he made his living by washing trailers 24 hours a day. I told him a little about the walk I was on and thanked him for letting me stay the night. The next morning I left an additional RMB 10 in the room as RMB 5 seemed too little for such a nice man.

32 kilometres today

I started walking at about two o’clock today. The temperature was noticeably cooler and I could hold a good speed without sweating too much.

There is no known Great Wall between the stretch I just followed and the next stretch that starts East of Yinchuan. Scholars seem divided to where it’s possible remains are. Most mean it went on the Eastern side of the Yellow River. But there are indications that the Yellow River has changed course fairly dramatically over the years. Because of this, it’s possible that the remains of the Great Wall may be found on the Western side of the Yellow River too.

I struck up a course towards Southeast today, heading for the only bridge I could detect that crosses the Yellow River in the area.

After walking for about three hours, I came to a small village and asked for a cheap place to spend the night. I ended up paying 20 RMB (Kr 20 / $ 3) for a basic room with shared toilet and shower. Then I went to eat. After ordering food, I went out to get some Ice Tea. Two policemen approached me and asked to see my passport. Then they said they wanted to speak more to me, and would wait at the guesthouse.

As I ate, I was wondering what was going on. Back at the guest house the two officers had become five. They asked me to pack my stuff and follow them to a different hotel. I asked why, stating that in the four months of walking, I have never had any problem with the police. An officer that spoke some English looked up a word on his mobile and said: “It is prescribed”. So instead of a cheap 20 RMB night, I am now at the prescribed hotel at 165 RMB. At least breakfast is included  

At all times the police behaved in a friendly way. The guy that spoke English was very sympathetic. I hope this will not happen too often, because I am many kilometres away from the starting point for tomorrow.

15 kilometres today.

I have just checked the weather forecast and the temperature will drop tomorrow and stay at or under 30 C (86 F) I can almost not believe that this little miracle has finally happened and am really looking forward to somewhat cooler days.

The Chinese website is coming along and now there are only a few pages left and some layout issues. Hopefully I will manage to finish most of the tasks today.

There has been a really hot spell in Ningxia the last couple of days. This will last for some more days, but then the heat should drop to only about 30 C. (86 F)  I’m in Yinchuan working on the Chinese website now and will stay here until the heat drops.

I’m really hoping that this will be the last I see of  the intense heat this summer.

I started walking at about nine o’clock. The last days of walking along irrigation channels put me a bit too far West, so the first 3-4 kilometres I walked Westwards to get to the starting point of the suspected Great Wall in the area. I walked Westwards along a dirt road surrounded by farmland. Walking past several suspected beacon towers, without finding any evidence of them, made my heart drop a bit. But a few kilometres later, I found the Great Wall in pristine order. It was probably about six metres high and continued for a stretch of about a kilometre.

Trying to follow it’s track was difficult because there were buildings right beside it on one side and, in some places, fields with corn on the cob on the other side. I tried to walk through a house yard, but was effectively stopped by two very aggressive guard dogs. They were chained, but had a look in there eyes that said I wouldn’t have lasted very long had they not been chained.

After getting to the most Western point of the Great Wall in this section, I backtracked, walking in the streets of the small village, and stopped at a small shop to buy something to drink. Ice Tea as usual.

Heading Eastwards, the sun hit me right in the front. I notice very well how I heat up most when the sun is in front of me. From the sides or behind, it doesn’t hit as large an area of my body. Soon I was sweating intensely. I started asking villagers if they had seen any Ming Dynasty Great Wall and they confidently pointed in the direction I was walking.

After a while I hit the Great Wall again. It had shrubs on top of it and was not very evident some places. After walking for a while, it became higher, and there was no doubt - I could see the remains of beacon towers too. I followed it for approximately 8 kilometres before hitting the road on which I hoped to get a bus to Yinchuan.

After waiting for a while, I saw that this particular road was only trafficated by lorries and the occasional car and motorbike. Therefore I started walking to get to a larger road. Then I got lucky and a motorbike with two adults stopped.  The driver asked if I wanted a lift. Here in China I have seen up to three adults and two children on a motorbike, so three adults and a large rucksack was no problem at all. The helpful driver was going in the same direction as me, and dropped me off right in front of a bus that was going to Yinchuan. I was very grateful and offered to pay him for the ride, but he said he didn’t want any money. Many thanks to him. I was really tired when he picked me up and the extra walk would have zapped me a lot in the heat.

Many thanks to the members of the Great Wall Forum for feeding me with information on the probable route of the Ming Dynasty Great Wall in this area!! Andreas - I will write a summary with coordinates in the Forum tomorrow. I also plan to add some pictures from the day here.

Today started with the sun blasting on to the side of my little tent. It was very hot. I had a bad headache and wanted to sleep more after a bad night’s sleep. Right outside, I saw hundreds of mosquitos just waiting to give me a good morning kiss.

Still inside the tent, I was sweating heavily.  I then put on my clothes to get some protection from the mosquitos… Luckily there was a slight breeze outside.

I didn’t know it was going to be this hot so early, as the long term weather forecast had predicted overcast weather and about 30 C.

I started walking. The plan was to walk about 15 to 20 km and then take a bus to Yinchuan to let my knee rest. As I got closer to the end, I was tempted to go on walking one more day. I was close to a fairly large town and asked a taxi driver to drive me to a middle class hotel where I could eat, rest and wash my clothes.

She nodded and dropped me off at the first hotel we passed. The best and most expensive hotel in town! I was too tired and hot to change the hotel and after a little dealing was able to reduce the price of the room a bit.

In the reception, I met Ted from New York who is overseeing work at a large industrial site just outside of town. He has been here for fourteen months! We met a bit later and spent the evening together sharing travel stories, reflections on life in China and so forth together. Thanks for a really great evening Ted, and a delicious meal! It was good fun, and a nice change from the usual routine of being alone

This evening my brother, a friend from the UK, my girlfriend and parents have called. It’s good to be able to keep in touch even though I am on the other side of the world… My brother told me that there is a heat wave on it’s way. Temperatures are going to be really high for about 4-5 days. If this holds true, I will probably spend that time in Yinchuan to finish the first version of the Chinese website, and letting my left knee heal.

17 kilometres today.

PS - I saw another snake today…

It was raining lightly this morning. Because of the heat and humidity the previous night, I didn’t get that much sleep, so today I slept until about 8 o’clock. Started walking an hour later.

I forgot to write yesterday, that I had felt a pain behind my left knee. First I thought it was the old back injury from kayaking Norway that had re-surfaced (a nerve in the back is pinched causing pain in my left leg) but today I realized it had nothing to do with my back. Lucikly.

So I started feeling the back of the knee and felt the telltale signs of tendonitis. I don’t even know if one can get tendonitis in this spot. Anyway - it looks like I will have to figure out what this is. I’m hoping that since it came so quickly, it will disappear quickly too…

I bought some noodles at a shop today. I showed her a picture of a dead snake I found on the dirt road and asked if it was dangerous. It was green with reddish colourings closer to it’s head. She told me it wasn’t dangerous, but I should watch out for the black snakes, and all other colourations… Well - I didn’t feel like even leaving the shop!! A lot less to put up a tent in a field with semi long grass. (That’s where I am right now)

Then she gave me a good piece of advice to keep snakes away… Take off your shoes and walk around the tent barefoot. That way the snakes can smell you and will stay away. Well - that would lead to a certain snake bite to walk around barefoot… I decided against trying her advice.

I’m in the tent now with a headache and trying to stretch my left leg. I can hear the sounds of small creatures right outside the tent, bumping against the walls. Perhaps frogs? I hope they stay outside…

About 30 kilometres today. (The GPS is outside the tent and I’m not risking lots of mosquito bites to get it…)

I started at 7 o’clock this morning ready to get a full day of walking. The landscape is striking here with scattered beacon towers and Xixia tombs sticking out of the ground.

After walking Northwards a while, I went more Eastwards to find a large irrigation channel I saw on the map. By doing this I could keep off the roads. From one to three o’clock, I rested under the shade of some high trees. Even got some sleep there.

I have been following the channel most of the day. Toward the end, the air became thick with mosquitoes. I usually don’t camp where I can be seen by others, but with the hot and humid air plus the mosquitoes, and a long day’s walk, I set up the tent, semi-hidden from a small but fairly heavily trafficated dirt road on the other side of the channel.

I am really tired now. Luckily, the temperature has dropped enough so that I can soon slip into the sleeping bag. I hope tomorrow isn’t as hot as today…

36 kilometres today.

I started walking from San Guan Kou at about two o’clock. The first thing I noticed was that it was cooler than last time I was here.

If the temperature stays at about 30 C max, I’ll be happy. For me, 30 C is OK, whilst 35 C means that my body cannot cool down adequately.

I soon left the road going down in to the Ningxia valley and turned Northwards heading for two Xixia tombs in the distance.

Walking towards the tombs, I started thinking about how little is known about this Kingdom. It reminded me that we are all here on earth for a very limited time, so we should be grateful and make the most of it.

The tombs were fantastic. I took off my rucksack and walked around the Northern one, taking pictures. Then I heard thunder in the distance. Some frightening dark clouds were rolling slowly in from the North. I wanted to go on walking, but decided against it after considering it for five minutes.

To the North there was only open desert and I would have been the highest point in the terrain for the next hour of walking. A couple of lightning strikes in the mountains to the West were enough to convince me. I set up the tent just outside of the fenced-off area by the tombs. That should be close enough so that lightning strikes the tomb and not the tent. (Well - hopefully neither!)

It started raining and I dozed off in the tent. Only two hours later, the bad weather had passed. It’s good to be back on track and in the tent again

17 kilometres today.

Three reasons for a little celebration today:

• My stomach is finally getting better. I have never been this bad with diarrhoea before. Was completely emptied for energy. I am really looking forward to getting back to walking the Great Wall and plan to set off tomorrow.

• I have been in China for 4 months now!! (A little more in fact)

• My girlfriend bought her tickets for China which I am really excited about! When she arrives in mid September, we will not have seen each other for five and a half months. That’s a long time… I hope we recognize each other!!

Many thanks for supporting messages on the page while I have been ill.

Yesterday was terrible.

Instead of walking the Ningxia loop, I found myself running to and from the bathroom. I counted myself a very lucky man for being in a town and not out in the tent in the desert. I tried to drink a lot and ate a little rice.

My trousers have never hung as loose around me as they do now. I wonder how much will be left of me when I one day hopefully arrive at Dandong in Liaoning…

Things are a little better now. Going out to get something to eat.