The Great Wall’ker

Happy 17th of May National day!!! Hope you have a good celebration tomorrow!

I am heading back to The Wall now.

PROBLEM - After I entered Hebei Province, I am unable to download mail on my mobile phone. It hangs, and stopping the process doesn’t stop the data transfer. As a result, my Norwegian mobile operator has shut down the GPRS function and therefore I will not be able to update this website until they turn it back on! Have written a lengthy complaint to the mobile operator. I expect GPRS will be turned on early next week. Until then, I will write a report every evening as usual, but will only be able to update the website when I have internet connection.

There will however be a new picture each day, and you should see movement on the Great Wall Route page.

After speaking to an expert in China Mobile, I finally got the reason for why I cannot use GPRS on my Norwegian htc phone with a Chinese sim card. I need the “H-service” to be able to use GPRS here, and this service seems to be available only in Beijing.

I have spent two days in Zhangjiakou to go through the summer equipment, make pictures, wash lots of clothes, get familiar with the new Dakota 20 GPS and try to find the leak in the Neo-Air sleeping mattress. All went well except for the sleeping mattress. I tried twice to find the leak in a bath tub, but had no success. I blew it up as hard as I could and folded it, and then dipped bit after bit into the bath tub, but no bubbles. Will try again next time I have the opportunity, because there is definitely a leak. I have read that others have had similar problems finding punctures.

Trude has just left Hong Kong, and I return to China mainland in an hour. We have had a great time together here and it is fantastic to think that next time we see each other, I will hopefully have fulfilled a 22 year old dream, and Trude and I can continue our lives together

China Daily is the largest English based newspaper in China. They printed an article about the walk yesterday. You can click here to read the article.

Ice Tea bottles on top of the faithful Ridgerest sleeping mattress.

This sleeping mattress is a classic for hikers. It is lightweight (400 grams for regular size) with a smart ridged design that captures air in it’s deep ridges without adding to the weight.

This is a no-nonsense sleeping mattress that has served me very well through the whole summer of 2009. During the winter, the down in the sleeping bag is compressed under my body so that the insulation is greatly reduced. Some people tape two ridgerests together for winter use. I have used this sleeping mattress in combination with the NeoAir. The combination evens out the ground making for a comfortable nights sleep while the RidgeRest protects the inflatable NeoAir sleeping mattress against thorns on the ground. There are plenty of them along the Great Wall.

The Ridgerest is not very thick, so if the ground is uneven, you will feel it at night. It is pretty bulky so I have had it dangling off the bottom of my large rucksack. That means it takes quite a beating every day, particularly when walking through thick and high bushes and thorns. It’s a little less tough in tear and wear than other ‘traditional’ sleeping mattresses I have used. Probably due to its lightweight materials. Lately, I have fastened it higher up on the rucksack which helps a bit.

This little baby has been with me the entire trip. I store it in my hip-pack so it is always ready for use. It is waterproof, very small, and weighs only 27 grams.

As I never plan to walk after dark, it is mostly used for trips to the ‘toilet’ or for securing the tent if it unexpectedly starts blowing hard during the night.

The headlamp has many settings, but basically you can choose between three bright white lights and one smaller and less bright red light.

The batteries last for only 18 hours using the three bright lights. With the smaller red light however, it seems to last forever! The small red light is sufficient inside the tent. I changed the batteries for the first time after about ten months use.

In the evenings I wear the light on my head. It easily adjusts to any position. Before sleeping I slip it around my neck. It is so light and small that sometimes I forget to put it back in the hip-satchel in the morning.

This is a great lightweight headlamp that does it’s job well. Highly recommended.

Warning - remember to turn on the white lights when you are studying maps in the tent after dark. Otherwise all the red roads magically disappear!

Two big pieces of news:

1) It is Trude’s birthday today - congratulations!

2) She is coming to Hong Kong and we are going to spend a holiday there together. I will be applying for a new visa at the same time. Can’t wait!!

Yesterday I pitched my tent just above a village where I was sure they would have a small shop so that I could stock up on fluids. On arrival, there were eight middle-aged and older women sitting in the main street. They were chatting and obviously happy for the nice and warm weather, although they still had there woollen hats on. There were a lot of pigs walking around freely too. Some of them were bathing in a mud bath close by - both really small, and a couple that were absolutely enormous!! I couldn’t understand how their four legs could support them.

I asked the women if there was a shop, and they pointed towards a building on the other side of the street. I couldn’t see a shop there, and it turned out they had pointed at a small truck by the road. It was a mobile shop that drove around in the area. Unfortunatly, the truck-shop didn’t sell anything drinkable which was too bad as it was going to be a pretty long and warm day. One of the women kindly offered me some Kai Shui - boiled water - and I bought an instant noodle package from the shop. I also got to fill up an MSR water bag with about 1.5 litres of boiling water. Then I sat down with the women watching the pigs being chased by a dog while I ate the noodles.

The walk eastwards from the village was nice. Although it was a little hilly, the terrain was softer. The Great Wall was just a shadow of itself with just a ‘pile of rocks’ showing it’s route through the landscape. Some places, I had a problem seeing The Wall and had to check where it was a few times before walking on. The wind blew enough to keep things cool. There was not a cloud in the sky the first half of the day.

By the time I got to my destination, I was really thirsty. I reckon I was about 1.5 litres down on water. There was a shop there, so I bought some Ice Tea, and drank half a litre before doing anything else. The bus ride down to Zhangjiakou was steep and long. Many places, they had short bylanes to the road in a steep ascent with lose gravel. These are made so that if a vehicle loses it’s breaks, they can steer in to the bylanes for an emergency stop. There were tyre marks in more than one of them!

24 kilometres today