The Great Wall’ker

It was so cold and windy this morning that it took me time to get out of the sleeping bag. Didn’t start walking til after eleven.

After a couple of hours I got to a small village and knocked on a door to ask where the small shop in town was. Had heard from a shepherd that there was one there. A young woman called Yu Lan answered the door, and immediately asked if I would like to eat with her and her mother. I thanked her very much. They told me the shop didn’t have any food. Not even instant noodles. The mother in the house had made the best large dumplings I have tasted in China. Also an egg and tomato soup and a salad. I was so grateful for the meal. Later I showed them pictures from life in Norway. Then Yu Lan’s Grandmother and brother came to the house and we took some pictures. All the time there was a funny 15 day old goat jumping around in the room. It was too small and weak to be outside with the rest of the herd now.

Yu Lan asked if I would like to spend the night with them as a relative was arriving tomorrow. I would really have liked to, but there was still daylight and I wanted to walk further.

Thank you for your hospitality Yu Lan and family!

I’m in the tent and sleeping bag now. It should be a bit warmer tonight, and less windy. Yesterday the wind was so hard that I used ear plugs to shut out the noise of the banging tent sheets so I could sleep after getting warm.

16 kilometres today

Friday 29th. Written 30th because it was too cold yesterday.

Took three buses to get back to where I last stopped walking. Walking the Great Wall of China was fantastic. I probably saw more stone clad Great Wall this afternoon than in total so far. This is exciting as it is a little taster of what is to come in Hebei and Beijing.

Milestone - for the first time on the walk, a person didn’t believe that I had walked all the way from Jiayuguan. I like milestones like that.

A woman asked: Why don’t you walk during the summer, so I told her I had been in Gansu and Ningxia

I was very cold when I finally got in the sleeping bag yesterday. Spent literally hours to get some warmth. Then I heard what seemed to be thunder. Was placed right at the top of a hill, so got out and walked away from the top to see where the bad weather was. Didn’t see any more, so went back to the by now cold sleeping bag. Can there be thunder in well below sub zero conditions I wonder?

My left knee is a bit painful, but I try to walk a bit slower than usual, especially walking down steep hills

15 Kilometres today