The Great Wall’ker

I have more or less finished the outer loop to the North of Datong. On the map you will see that the green line indicating the planned route went in a straight line here. I decided to follow the outer loop however.

It has been very grey and windy today. For the first time this year I could walk until after sunset at 18.48 according to the GPS. It isn’t so cold any longer.

I intended setting off from Datong at noon, but there were no direct buses so I had to wait one and a half hours. I took a taxi to the other side of the river and started right opposite to where I finished last time.  The river has washed away the Great Wall in some places.

Tomorrow I take a left turn and continue eastwards closing in on Hebei Province. I am unhappy that my Chinese number has stopped receiving text messages from abroad. Will have to figure out if it has to do with the type of sim card I’m using.

12 kilometres today

Currently in Datong, and have spent a lot of time trying to find the best way to get a suitable visa for the remainder of the time in China. There have also been a couple of interviews with Chinese media which is fun. Now that I have been at this project for quite some time, it seems the media attention has started to pick up.

Happy birthday to my father who turned the grand age of 74 today. Gratulerer med dagen!

I opted for a late start today and had rice and a Gong Bao Ji Ding at a restaurant. As I was eating, a group of about eight excited young girls assembled at the table next to me. More kept arriving trying to get space around the cramped table. I assumed they were on a lunch break from school. Then a large pack of beer bottles came to their table.

By the time they started opening the beer bottles with their teeth, I was smiling - all illusions lost. It was great watching them having a good time.

It turned out they were celebrating an eighteenth birthday. The birthday girl came over with a glass of beer and offered me to join in. I packed all my equipment and then sat down at their table. They said I was the first foreigner they had met, so I tried to be on my best behaviour !!

After showing them pictures from Norway that I carry in the rucksack, we said goodbye. I went back to the Great Wall and went on walking eastwards. It was starting to get quite windy again, and a lot of dust was making life fairly miserable. Then the sky went dark grey. At this point I got to a river with breaking ice on top if it. I could see the Great Wall on the other bank, but according to the map the closest bridge was ten kilometres away. In addition the forecast said there would be more bad weather coming in a day or two.

All things considered, I decided to get on a bus and go back to Datong. I rested yesterday and today I have tried my very best to find out how it would be possible to get a visa that lasts for more than just one month at a time. It is difficult. There are various options, but none are certain and therefore it is hard to make the right decision. In addition, my girlfriend is coming to visit me in China in May, so I need to be certain where I am then.

Many thanks to Pingping, Kelly, Anne-Line, Ted, Jacinta, Helen, John M. of the Norwegian Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Norway and Mr Dong of the China Great Wall Society in Beijing for being of assistance in this matter. Still have not found a good solution, but your help is highly appreciated! The number of people involved in what one would think was a fairly simple matter shows some of the complexity.

7 kilometres today

Pictures from the Chinese Birthday party:

Smile! Weixiao!

Just enough room for a couple of late comers.

Nice and sweet birthday cake

Cheers! Ganbei!

Making a birthday wish while we sang the happy birthday song.

Small girl, or large rucksack? Perhaps a little of both?

Although there are occasional steep valleys, the Great Wall has followed an almost perfect straight line today. The 29 km I walked today are the equivalent of 24 km in a straight line.

Zhang Tao and Han Jie offered me a solid breakfast this morning. A good start to the day. They also sent some canned cold coffee and apples and oranges with me. Thank you very much guys!

At one place I was guided out and around an intricate maze of steep valleys by a shepherd on the other side. I had started walking downwards, but he understood I was walking the Great Wall and helped out.

Later, I took a rest hiding behind some pine needle trees to get out of the wind. For the first time this year, I could lie down and rest without getting cold. That’s a milestone.

I stopped at a large road and asked for a guesthouse. Am currently in Feng Zhen Shi in Inner Mongolia. Have washed clothes, and eaten a good warm meal.

The last couple of days the wind has been so strong that my hands are completely dry and lips feel like an old pergament. Will have to get them softened up before my girlfriend comes to visit!

29 kilometres today

It was very windy today. I stayed on the northern and then eastern side of the Great Wall to get as much protection as possible. But whenever a section of The Wall was missing, or I came to a dry riverbed, the wind made it difficult to walk in a straight line.

Took a proper rest in a deserted village where three walls of a building remained intact, to avoid the wind. Listened to Frank Sinatra and then Robbie Williams singing Frank Sinatra songs.

As I got to a sharp turn in the Great Wall (see map tomorrow) I saw a large complex of buildings. I asked a worker if I could get some boiling water for my instant noodles. He pointed in the direction of some living quarters.

There I was met by a very nice guy who showed me to the canteen of the farm. They had 500 milk producing cows there. They kindly invited me to spend the night there and I gratefully accepted.  It felt good to get out of the wind. I have had a good meal with the 30 workers here, and been able to wash myself, feet included. When I looked in the mirror for the first time for 4 days I understood why they wanted me to take a wash. Not a pretty sight…

The people seem to be very happy working here, as did the cows. They had plenty of room, and the facilities are modern. I would have liked to write the name of the guy that offered me to stay the night, but he has gone off to play cards with the other guys

23 kilometres today

I have brought a large tripod along on this stretch. It is so easy to snap pictures of everything around me, but forget to take pictures of myself in the landscape. This is however time consuming and requires a great deal of patience - particularly if you are exposed to a strong and cold wind with no gloves while setting up the camera, or the wind blows the whole tripod and camera down… twice…

After the self exposure photorama, I descended into a valley that will take me all the way to the western part of Hebei. In the distance looking over the valley, I saw a statue. I automatically assumed it was a Buddha statue, but these are rare in the open and this one was slender. I took out the zoom camera and snapped a picture at 16 x zoom. Then I zoomed in on the statue on the camera. I was surprised as it looked like a Mother Mary statue.

I dumped my rucksack at the Great Wall and strode over, only to be amazed by a large marble statue of Mother Mary holding a young Jesus. It was beautiful, and the setting - looking over a vast valley - was perfect. I spent some quiet time there.

When looking around I noticed the church ruins that Great Wall Forum member Andarchen wrote about as a comment a while ago. It too had a great setting above the village of Bataizi (meaning the place of eight watchtowers). I spent time photographing both the statue and the church ruins.

Altogether, it was a fairly emotional moment. Being at the site of a church reminded me of the churches I visited while kayaking the coast of Norway. The trip was not without danger, and it felt good to spend some quiet time in the churches.

As I entered the small village Bataizi, I noticed some English text on a wall saying Merry Christmas. It turned out a Chinese Catholic man lived there. He told me the church was raised by Germans in 1870. I look forward to showing pictures of the church on the website.

Thank you Helen for the translation help. And thank you very much Andarchen for letting me know about the site in advance!

It is windy now, and snowing outside. Not heavily. At Bataizi, I bought 3 litres of Ice Tea, peanuts and lots of large biscuits. Going to feast on them now.

A note - you have probably read about the sandstorm that hit northern China some days ago. Since I started walking, the sand has disappeared from the air, but if I walk through bushes, lots of sand (or loess) gets whipped up in the air.

14 kilometres today

I woke up last night, and there was no wind or sound at all. Whilst trying to get back to sleep, I heard a faint and somewhat strange noise. I moved my head, and the sound disappeared. That is when I understood it was the sound of the slow leak of air from the inflatable sleeping mattress.

Managed to cover a fair distance today. It has been hilly, but the Great Wall is in good shape here, so I spent a long time walking on top of it, and not beside it.

Close to the end of the day there was a long and steep descent. I ended up camping by a beautiful watchtower that has been restored. Behind it, there is a small fortified area, and a large archway to the valley to the south.

20 kilometres today

Last night, I checked how windy it was going to be today. Very windy in the morning, but then less into the evening. Therefore I postponed the early departure and had a solid breakfast instead.

I had mixed emotions returning to the Great Wall after the episode that made the last stretch come to a halt. It was good to see that there is hardly any snow left, and the ground has thawed so I can use tent plugs again.

Only 4 kilometres today. I’m lying in the tent in a field on the opposite side of the Great Wall from a small village.

It is good to be back in the tent and even better rolling out the sleeping bag with the knowledge that there will probably not be any more TOO cold nights on the walk.

I can hear a dog barking in the village. The days are getting longer now, and a lot of signs are starting to remind me about those first steps almost a year ago. Strange to think about. Good night.

4 kilometres today

After a slow recovery, I have felt stronger the last couple of days. When I looked at the weather forecast I saw that very strong  winds were expected in the area bordering on Inner Mongolia where the Great Wall is situated. I will postpone my departure by a day or two until the worst of the bad weather, and it’s effects are over. Many people are plagued by the dust getting into the lungs, and as I will be outside all the time when walking, I will be particularly exposed to this.

The sand from these storms can be carried over vast distances. They are fairly frequent during the Spring when the sun starts heating the air creating strong winds. There are concerns that the storms are getting worse as a result of overgrazing and deforestation.

You can read more on BBC’s website, and there are some good pictures here on a Chinese site called Sina.

Woke up this morning noticing that my body wasn’t drenched with sweat. So I don’t feel great, but just not feeling really ill is good at this point. Will try and start eating more to build up strength. Went for a little walk earlier today, and was light headed by the end of it. Will have to make sure not to overdo things.

Many thanks for the supportive comments on the site. Wishing you a good weekend.

No easy way of writing this.

On Friday the fifth of March I set off walking the Great Wall after spending yet another day weather bound in the tent due to snow. Things were going well. I knew I was a little low on food and liquids and was on the lookout  for a village with people which I knew I would find when I entered the next valley, if not before.

After walking about 7 kilometres, I stood in front of the final ascent before entering the valley. Behind me in the distance, I could see a small village, but no people. It was hidden in a valley, which is the reason I had not seen it before. I didn’t want to backtrack just to find out that there were no people there

I was at a little less than 1700 meters above sea level.  It was about -10C, and almost no wind. I sat down to eat, drink and rest knowing it would do me good before the final ascent.

I rose, packed all the equipment, and started on the climb. It was fairly steep and long. The newly fallen snow didn’t help either. As I walked, I noticed that the walking stick handles had become very cold after the break, but I thought I would warm them up again as soon as I got warm.

As I got further up, the wind got stronger. After a while it was making my face very cold. I had to start taking rests increasingly often. It felt like my energy had disappeared as I was standing there. At this point I was getting pretty close to the top. I thought if I could get over it, the wind would probably get weaker as I descended.

My condition then started to deteriorate very quickly. I started walking with shorter paces, couldn’t follow a straight line and noticed I was losing the feeling in my fingers. The rest of my body was also losing heat due to all the pauses, exposed in the wind. What was worse was that I was starting to lose my ability to reason properly.

Soon I felt like I had to throw up, and soon after, as though I had bad diarrhea. Then came the worst part - I noticed I was losing consciousness. I had to drop quickly down to my knees in order not to pass out. I stood up again, but just ten meters further on, I had to kneel down so as not to lose consciousness.

I then realized what was happening and knew the only way to manage was to set up the tent.

Luckily there was a little area big enough to set up the tent only 3-4 metres behind me. When I took off my rucksack, I noticed that I had almost no feeling left in my fingers. At this point it was a race against time. I had to drop to my knees twice more as I set up the tent, and just hoped I would manage to get myself and my equipment into it in time.

I did, but didn’t have strength to use any tent plugs. The tent has a very sturdy dome construction, and I was pretty sure it would manage the high winds without the plugs. I was incredibly grateful when I managed to zip down the outer tent door to get completely out of the wind. I got both sleeping mattresses ready. It was a battle just to pull out the sleeping bag from the rucksack.

I was very very cold, but no longer afraid of passing out. It didn’t take long before I fell asleep. I slept for two hours, and woke up shivering at 4 PM.

—

Quick note. Got back to Datong the day after. Went straight to bed, and have been there ever since because of a virus. High temperature, feeling cold, very hot, sweating, no appetite etc. That’s why I have not written before. It is probably also the reason why I lost all my energy so incredibly fast.

Have thought a lot about the incident. Will write more tomorrow. Time to rest now.

Sorry for not writing for some days.

After many days and nights of snow and cold conditions, I returned to Datong on Saturday. I had a pretty frightening experience while walking on the Friday which I will write more about tomorrow. After returning to Datong, I’ve been in bed with the flu. I hope the worst is over now.

Woke up to a strong wind and wet snow whipping on the tent walls. It continued for many hours and I decided to stay put for the day.

My Neo-Air inflatable sleeping mattress has a puncture. No big surprise as this landscape has a lot of sticky thorn shrubs that I have to walk through. There are also thorns on the ground that are hard to detect before setting up the tent.

Because of the cold I am using a traditional Ridgerest sleeping mattress under the inflatable one to keep warm. It takes about five hours for the Neo-Air to deflate so that my hip touches the bottom one. I will have to repair the puncture soon. When it gets a little warmer, I will stop using the large Ridgerest to save weight and space. It is large and dangles at the bottom of the rucksack when I am walking. I will write a review of the two sleeping mattresses soon.

The clouds have cleared up this evening, and expect -16C tonight. I am happy I have two mattresses for the time being.

This morning I ate another good hot meal and bought a Chinese take away The boots had almost dried. I walked out from the guesthouse to a road crossing. The sun was out and there was a great atmosphere. Lots of people walking in all directions and a lovely lady sitting by the colourful fruits she was selling at the corner. From the place I was standing, I could see two of the four large ancient gates that surround the city of Youyu.

After sucking up the atmosphere and taking some pictures, I sat on a bus heading north of Youyu. From there I could get the right bus to Shahukou.

Although the terrain here often looks comfortably flat from a distance, or even from just 50 metres away, there are some pretty deep and steep valleys to cross in order to walk the Great Wall. After the first ascent, I got to the second largest windmill farm I have seen so far.

The walking went easily today. Like flowing slowly through the landscape. As I got to the most northern part of this section of the Great Wall I saw a large flat valley to the north. It was so beautiful that I decided to spend the night there. The ground is perfectly flat also, which makes for a change as I have had no  option in choosing my camp sites the last few nights.  I can hear dogs barking in the valley, but other than that just the weak wind blowing in the trees. Very peaceful. The tent is situated so that the sun will wake me up tomorrow morning. (If there is one…)

15 kilometres today