The Great Wall’ker

I slept very well last night. Lots of fresh air. Started walking at about eight o’clock in the morning. It felt strange to get down to flat terrain again.

After walking 13 kilometres, the clouds got darker and darker, and it started raining. I decided enough was enough for this stretch, and hitched a bus back to Zhangjiakou. The camera batteries are empty and I need to make more pictures for the website. I will move base camp to a town just North East of Beijing called Huai Rou, and then return to the Great Wall again.

13 kilometres today

After eating leftovers from dinner yesterday, I got back to the Great Wall by foot and paying a guy on a motorbike 10 RMB.

Today’s walk was enjoyable with a great view the whole time. Not so difficult as the Great Wall usually follows the high ridges of the terrain. The Wall had more cultivated areas around it today. Not so many thorns and bushes.

It rained four times. Twice I sat under the umbrella, and twice just walked on enjoying the cooling effect. I really love the terrain here. It is hilly, but soft.

If you look at the Great Wall Route, you will see that I have not followed the Planned route today (Green line). No worries though - I decided to follow the inner loop over the next section. It was fascinating to see where the outer loop wall suddenly shot out to the North. I can see it in the distance from where I am writing this.

I decided not to descend these mountains today. Instead I spent time finding a great camp site, and have relaxed, studied the map, stretched my legs and taken pictures.

My knees are still a concern, and yesterday the back of the left one was over-stretched when a rock on The Wall slipped. Have used a knee support for it today, and will let it rest before the last descent tomorrow. As long as alternating knees hurt every day, I’m OK

Just before I started putting up the tent, a herder came over the horizon asking if I had seen any cows lately. I hadn’t. We sat down and talked. He comes from a village close by and spends 3-4 days up here at a time. His pack was very small so I asked what he does if it starts raining. Then I go back to my village he answered with a smile. I gave him an Ice Tea as I have more than enough until tomorrow. As he set off to look for his herd, his mobile phone rang. It was his wife.

As he left, I sat thinking about how big a change that little phone has made to his life alone up here in the mountains. Mine too.

16 kilometres today

Thanks John for the weather forecast for today, and sister Tone for tomorrow. John - you were right. Mostly cloudy today, and mostly dark tonight.

Great landscape to walk in today. I passed a lot of cows along The Wall. On the enemy side of The Wall, there was an old cartway. There were fairly young scrubs and bushes there now, so perhaps it was last used 8-10 years ago. The cows still used it though, so sometimes I followed it, and sometimes walked on the Great Wall right next to it.

I passed a lot of large birch trees. The trees were not that high, but the trunks were thick. Lots of big smiley fluffy clouds today. I got to a road at about three o’clock and had decided to get to the closest village with a small guesthouse. I only had a little Ice tea left after all the bad weather.

After a few kilometres walk, and a hitched ride I got to this fantastic village. Only 500 people living here. They have been so cheerful and nice to me. I have eaten a large meal, drunk plenty, taken pictures of some kids, dried the sleeping bag, washed clothes and myself.

Time to listen to a little Julius Caesar and then sleep. If the weather stays good, I should get off these mountains in a couple of days time.

15 kilometres today

After two nights in the pit, I was very ready to go on, or at least find a flat spot for the tent.

At about five o’clock, the rain eased off and the thunder stopped. I quickly took down the tent and moved on. After exactly 404 metres according to the GPS, I heard a new thunder roar. Nowhere to set up the tent, so I just hid under some trees. It stopped after less than an hour.

It was getting late, so I went on quickly and found a good spot to set up the tent.

Frustrating to have walked only 7 kilometres in three days, but what can you do? At least I have learnt more about the life of Julius Caesar…

3 kilometres today

Started walking about nine o’clock. I had five and a half litres of Ice Tea, 8 eggs and some buns in addition to peanuts and some biscuits from Zhangjiakou.

I started at an empty water reservoir. They were repairing the dam which I walked over to get to the starting point. The ascent was long, hard and slow with little or no chance of walking beside the Great Wall.

When I was very close to the top, I saw darks clouds coming in from behind. I thought it was a small thunder storm similar to few days ago and quickly got off the Great Wall and found a small flat patch of ground. It was big enough for me to sit down and drape the tent over me like a poncho.

The rain took longer to come than I thought. It also lasted a lot longer - for two whole days. After lying in my tent poncho for 3-4 hours, I realized I had to set up the tent. It was getting very damp and cold. When the rain eased off a bit, I quickly set it up so that the flat patch was at the bottom of the tent.

This made life warmer, but I still could only use about half of the area of the one man tent! What I didn’t know at the time was that I would be stuck there for two whole days.
After half a day it felt like my personal torture chamber. I had looked around, and there was nowhere else to set up the tent. I slept very little and my legs and hips hurt after lying doubled up for so long. The bottom of the sleeping bag got wet, but I used the neoprene knee supports on my feet to keep them warm. If I stretched out all the way, I risked damaging the tent as the groundsheet slid down hill straining the stitches between the groundsheet and tent.

Thanks again to Alfredo who has purchased and sent several audio books about Julius Caesar to me. Many thanks! If I hadn’t had them I would have gone mad for sure!

Outside it rained, and there was plenty of thunder and lightning. The last day, there was a hailstorm to round things off with a proper finale.

4 kilometres today (26.5)

Sorry for not writing for a few days. I was pinned down by an almighty thunderstorm for two days, and didn’t have coverage yesterday.

Have come to a fantastic small village with lots of funny people and eaten a large dinner. Going to wash clothes now, and then write some more if I don’t fall asleep first.

This has been yet another hard and warm day. Started before eight to get up the mountain in front of me before it got too hot.

I planned for a detour at the end of the day to get straightened out a bit. I had less than half a litre of drink left, and wanted a proper meal.

Four guys that had been on a business trip in the area offered to drive me to the village just south of the Great Wall. They said it had about 5.000 inhabitants. They dropped me off at a Lu dian - a small guest house. The woman owner seemed to need some persuasion to take me as a guest.

When she understood I could speak some Chinese, and that I wasn’t going to tear down the place, she helped me no end! I was so grateful

First she took me to a restaurant and I ordered food. Then she showed me the shop where I bought 6 litres of Ice Tea for the next stretch. Then she pointed out the local bath house where she said I could take a long shower. Finally she told me that when I got back she would have everything ready so that I could wash my clothes. I should hire her help for the rest of the trip! I was so grateful.

So now I’m sitting here in the room with nothing on my upper body as it is hanging on a line outside drying. The only slight minus is that the guy I am sharing a room with is smoking.

I smell pretty bad after just three days walking. There is a lot of sweating involved walking up and down these mountains. It will good to go to sleep tomorrow relatively clean, and not stinking.

Some places I had to climb steep cliffs with hands and arms to follow the high ridge The Wall followed. Where there were not enough good grips to use safely, I had to detour in to the thick bushes beside The Wall. This was also hard work as the thorns rip up clothes, rucksack and skin alike.

After what I thought was two hours walking, I had walked only 3 kilometres. It turned out though, that out of the two hours since I started this morning, I had been standing still taking short breaks, photographing or considering where to walk for a whole hour!

11 kilometres today

Monday the 24th (couldn’t access internet yesterday)

The wind was so strong today that I detoured from The Wall for 3 short sections. The wind blew me off balance several times, so I didn’t want to take any chances where a mishap could have serious consequences.

The Wall continues to be mostly a pile of rocks, but sometimes it looked more like a wall. Walking on these rocks is slow and hard work! They are fairly small, and although they have been there several hundred years, they slide easily - especially where it is steep. My average speed while walking was only 3 km per hour today due to the rocks, thick bushes next to The Wall and wind.

Lot of sun today, so the wind was great to cool me down.

At the highest elevation of the day, I came to a large mobile communications centre overlooking Zhangjiakou. I approached the building and saw a guy inside. He opened a window, and I asked if he had any boiling water. He gave me some, and I sat down to rest in the sun, but out of the wind.

Soon more men started showing up one after one asking who I was and what I was doing. I answered as well as I could. Then the boss came with a warm meal and lots of rice. I was very grateful, thanked him and started eating while talking to them. It was the social highlight of the day!! Come to think of it, it was the only social event of the whole day.

16 kilometres today

23rd of May (didn’t have internet connection yesterday)

Started at about 3 o’clock today and had to climb a pretty steep section to get out of Zhangjiakou. Hot sun, not much wind and therefore lots and lots of sweat.

Some observations. The first is that it is green here! After so long in a desert and then the cold and white winter, it is Great to see everything growing around me. The bushes make the walking more challenging since they are very dense sometimes, and they make it harder finding a camp site. It is a lot more hilly which is a nice change. This too makes it hard to find flat ground for a tent, and makes the walking harder.

Today I was surprised by a thunderstorm that passed by me within a little more than an hour. It crept upon me from behind, and I was so busy climbing the first steep hill that I didn’t notice it till the first thunder roar.

The whole horizon behind me was a dark gray wall. I was on top of the Great Wall, and it took a little time to find a place to escape from it. I walked down for a while, but there was nowhere to get out of the rain or set up the tent.

In the end I found about 1.5 square metres that were flat and quickly lay the tent down, and put the rucksack and myself inside. There was not enough room to use the tent poles, so it was draped on top of me. The worst of the weather went south of me.

It was a good and kind first lesson about lightning and the Great Wall. From now on I will scan the horizon more often, and take action sooner when I see bad weather coming my way.

Due to the dense shrubs, hilly terrain and a Wall that was hard to walk on, as it consisted of lose rocks, it went slowly. At the end of the day, I spent longer than anticipated in finding a camp site.

Am really tired now - perhaps because of the cold the last days. I am very excited about these next days and hope my knees manage the terrain OK.

8 kilometres today

I’ve literally spent all day in bed. I really wanted to get going today, but when I opened my eyes, I was dizzy. Best to just stay low. The staff of this guesthouse have been very nice and brought a warm and soothing drink this morning, and some fruit in the afternoon. Thank you very much!!

Here is the article in the newspaper. It is in Chinese (of course).

The article is on page 4. Will try to get a copy of the newpaper tomorrow.

Now it is time to eat, drink and sleep…

Ouch…

I wanted at most one rest day before heading on westwards along the Great Wall. I have looked at the map, and the next section that should take about 8 days, looks tough. When I woke this morning however, I had a temperature, very runny nose, high temperature and was coughing a lot.

Will just have to ride it off.

I wonder how many decades will go before there is a pathway like this along the whole Great Wall? At least the hilly parts.

The descent from the top of the mountain took longer than I thought. 7 kilometres that all went downwards to the Dajing gate at the North of Zhangjiakou. The area has been built up as a park with nice paths that follow the Great Wall. Sometimes the Great Wall follows high and steep ridges and some places there is no need for a wall at all, as the cliff sides do the job just as well.

It was an impressive sight to arrive at the Northern Gate, especially as  Zhangjiakou has been at the centre of many decisive battles in the long history of China. Not far from the Northern Gate, the forces of Ghengis Khan defeated a massive army of the Jin Emperor at the battle of the Badger’s Mouth. Ghengis had 90,000 men, whilst the Jin army had around 450,000. This battle took place in 1211 before the rise of the Ming Dynasty.

I met a journalist from the Zhangjiakou newspaper and we talked together for a while before I got a ride to a guesthouse to spend the night.

7 kilometres today

17th of May

Today was fantastic. The Great Wall was mostly a large pile of rocks that had fallen down from it’s original wedge like structure. As I got closer to Zhangjiakou, the wall was more preserved. The last stretch was fantastic with a bird’s eye view of Zhangjiakou from the north looking southeastwards.

I walked past lots of bushes, trees and plants all flowering.

Tomorrow I might be interviewed by the a Zhangjiakou newspaper about the walk, so decided to camp on top of the mountain and do the last few kilometres tomorrow.

16 kilometres today

From Sunday the 16th of May

I started walking at about 3.30 PM today. It had rained earlier, and although it was humid and the sky was thick gray all the time, not a drop of rain fell.

It was pretty windy, making for a perfect temperature, especially when walking up hills. The Great wall follows the countours of the landscape here, and is slowly descending to Zhangjiakou. There have been a couple of steep hills, but mostly a soft rolling landscape. It reminded me of the UK some times as there is short grass many places and I could hear the sheep in close by villages.

After setting up the tent, I stretched the back of my legs and knees. This is the first time I have stretched properly on the whole walk… About time!

It was still warm when I entered the tent. This will be the first night in the summer sleeping bag for more than half a year. It still stinks!

I have ditched all the winter equipment now. The rucksack has space left even with 4.5 litres of Ice tea, and a lot of food. It is also lighter which is great concidering all the mountains ahead of me.

About 120 km as the crow flies left to the border of Beijing which is not a province, but a municipality.

Time to listen a bit to an audio book about Julius Cesar, and then sleep. My last thought will probably be of all the ‘crazy’ youths in Norway. They have pretty wild parties to celebrate the end of High School the evening before Norway’s National day tomorrow.

12 kilometres today