The Great Wall’ker

On the last day of the previous stretch I managed to bang my left foot hard against a rock. At the time, I just said some words I will not repeat here, and walked on. It was painful, but I was keen to keep up the speed.

The day after, which was the first day of rest in Zunhua, I noticed a slight pain in the joint at the base of my left big toe, but I didn’t think much about it. The day after that it was painful and swelled up. So painful in fact that I was having a hard time walking naturally.

I have been doing a lot of thinking the last days, wondering if it is a fracture, or just the tendons and muscles reacting to the impact against the rock. Of course I have also been thinking a lot about what consequences this might have to the walk. It is a bit ironic that one big toe, in a worst case scenario, can potentially stop an entire walk.

Anyway, today the toe seems to be getting slightly better, so I hope that means there is no fracture, and that it is on the mend. I have been taking anti inflammatory tablets lately to help it along and reduce the pain. This is of course the last thing I wanted now, but bad things happen now and again. I decided there was no point in writing about the injury until I knew a little more about how serious it was.

Well - I hope this soon gets better, and I can get back to walking the Great Wall! Will keep you posted.

After a good nights rest and breakfast from my hosts, I was ready to move on. Duan Cai Yan has done a lot of hiking and wanted to walk together with me the first section of the Great Wall east of Daankou. It was just as hot as the last 4-5 days, so we got off to an early start. Walking up the steep slope was hard and slow going.

Duan Cai Yan and Wang Hao Zhen in front of their house and pharmacy. The brick structure to the left is the shower.

The Great Wall here is different from what I have seen before. It is about 4-6 metres high, and the width varies from 4-5 metres to less than two. The most fascinating thing was the local building materials that were used. Large yellow and gray rocks that were not necessarily square, with mortar in between. Unfortunately it was yet another misty day, so the view was not as spectacular as it could have been.

There was lots of vegetation on the Great Wall and around it. It took a long time to get past sections where the foliage was so thick that it was literally a step at a time. There were a lot of loose rocks and my walking stick saved me several times. It would have been easier without the rucksack with four litres of drink in it. After an hour of hard work, Duan Cai Yan bid me farewell and returned to Daankou. Thank you for the company Duan Cai Yan!

As I walked on, the bushes, foliage and undergrowth got thicker. Often, I had to use the walking stick to check the ground before stepping down as it was covered by plants. The ground was anything but flat, and I didn’t want a fall. There were plenty of thorns too. It got worse and worse as did the heat. After having cut myself several times trying to get through a section of dense bushes, I stopped for a rest. I had been on the go for more than two hours, but covered less than two kilometres. On average I was covering about 900 metres per hour. I knew it was going to get a lot hotter and found out that I didn’t want to go on walking through the thick foliage at this speed. Instead, I retreated down a slope, found a small path, and walked back to Daankou. From there I followed a dirt road just north of the Great Wall.

These last days have been pretty hard. The heat is the worst as it affects me more than I would like. Towards the end of today, I decided enough was enough and needed some rest.I was only about ten kilometres from Zunhua and was able to get a ride from a very nice woman I met just south of Shapo Yucun.

23 kilometres today

Sorry for not writing the last couple of days. The going has been a bit tough. Seems like 34C and 80% humidity is starting to get to me. Now that I’m out of Beijing Municipality, I have to switch to the Norwegian Sim card to write entries, and lately I have been more concerned about sleep.

I will write more soon

Today was very hot too. And misty and humid. Because of the intense heat, some of the days feel a bit blurry. I notice that it affects my mental awareness a bit, and because I sometimes am forced to walk along trafficked roads, I listen to audio books just to ‘get away from it all’ for a while.

Eastern Qing Dynasty Tombs

The highlight of the day was the visit to the Eastern Qing Dynasty Tombs. These tombs are amongst the largest and best preserved tombs in China. They are devoted to the rulers of the last feudal empire in China - the Qing Dynasty from 1644 to 1911. I am walking the Ming Dynasty Great Wall which is the Dynasty that preceded the Qing Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty was followed by the Republic of China.

5 emperors, 15 empresses, princes, princesses and a large number of concubines were buried here. The tombs take up an area of about 80 square kilometres. The layout of the tombs and surrounding park areas were very nice and gave associations to the Forbidden City. Some of the buildings were in need of repair, but that added to the feeling of age gone by. I got some good photo opportunities although it was a foggy day. One of the tombs had absolutely no visitors, and the feeling was a little bit eerie.

I walked on for a little while, and then found a spot to rest under some trees. Very hot, humid and no wind. I was not going to walk the hottest couple of hours of the day. I followed small roads and dirt roads close to the remains of the Great Wall. My goal for the day was Daankou which lies in a pass by the Great Wall. Da an kou translates to Big peace pass.

It got dark before I got there. Less than a kilometre from the village, I heard several barking dogs and hoped they were chained up. They were not. Two dogs appeared out of the dark on each side of me. One of them kept a little distance, but the one on my left hand side got too close for comfort, so I gave it a good old whack with the point of my walking stick. Don’t like doing this, but in the dark I was not taking any chances. It yelped, and kept its distance after that.

As I entered the village, I asked people if there were any small guest houses I could stay at. Everybody shook their heads. They I saw a small pharmacy and thought I might as well get some more plasters for my feet. In the heat, and with the fairly long distances, I have started getting blisters again. After buying the plasters, I asked the owners of the place about a guesthouse, but they too said there were none. They were very kind and asked me to sit down while they made some phone calls to look at the possibilities. Perhaps they saw that I was shattered.

After some phone calls, they very kindly offered me to stay on their bed. I was relieved. I had my tent with me, but sleeping in it in this intense heat would be just as much torture as walking long distances during the day.

Most houses in the area have devices on the roofs for using solar power to heat water during the day, and showers connected to these. It felt quite exotic to take a shower at night outdoors with a candle light! When I was finished, I got to eat a very nice supper with the couple.

My hosts were Wang Hao Zhen and Duan Cai Yan. They set up their pharmacy in Daankou four years ago. They had a nine year old child who lived with their parents about an hours drive away. In the evening we sat talking, and as they had a computer and internet we used the Google translator whenever we were stuck for words in either direction. Thank you very much for being so kind to a tired and dirty traveller!!!

33 kilometres today

Today started with a visit to Huang Ya Guan Great Wall (Yellow cliff pass). This section of the Great Wall gets it’s name from the yellow colour of the rocks surrounding the pass. It has been commercialized, and tourists can walk west or east from the pass. I decided to walk westwards. It was a very misty and humid day, so unfortunately not good at all for taking pictures which had been part of my plan. The walk was hard, and as it got hotter and hotter, I noticed how my body was working harder and harder to keep me cool. When the temperature is in the mid 30’s centigrade and it is very humid and no wind, the body really doesn’t have that much leverage to cool itself down.

When I got close to the top, I sat down to rest and cool down. The Huang Ya Guan Great Wall was first built by the Northern Qi Dynasty (550-557) as was the case at Gubeikou. It too was strengthened by brickwork and watchtowers more than 800 years later during the Ming Dynasty period. In the mid eighties it was rebuilt so that the brickwork today appears to be ‘perfect’ as opposed to the Gubeikou stretch which is original.

Anja and Alba to the left on the Huang Ya Guan Great Wall

On my descent, I ran into two foreigners. Alba from Spain and Anja from Poland. They were sitting resting in a watchtower, and it wasn’t hard to join them as it was very hot. They were both here as summer students learning Chinese in Tianjin. They were both of the chatty type, and I was introduced in to the world of eternal studentship with the aim of always searching for the next scholarship so that one could go on studying. When we got to the bottom, we had a drink and ate together. It was good to speak English again.

Walking the Great Wall any further than the rebuilt sections is very dangerous here, so I went south, and continued my walk on small roads and dirtroads eastwards. At one place I needed to find a way from one small road to another - about a kilometre through an area that was partly agricultural, but also fairly steep. It started well, but after half way I hit a dead end, and spent a lot of time looking for a path to get on. It might sound strange that I didn’t just go bushing through the forest the last 500 metres, but the forests are very dense here, and in steep terrain it becomes extremely time consuming, so it is usually best to save time by looking for paths. The problem with paths at this time of year is that they are hidden by the foliage. After having looked around for a while I luckily met a local guy who took the time to walk with me for a few minutes and showed me a barely visible path running the right way. Many thanks to that man!

Having spent half the day at Huang Ya Guan, the distance wasn’t too long today.

17 kilometres today

Woke up to a clear blue sky. The whole day has been very very hot, and it still is now late in the evening. Have been sweating a lot, and drank too little. I thought there were some small shops along my route, but that turned out to be wrong. I could probably have got some boiling water which every Chinese household has, but it was not tempting in the heat.

Hi - do you have some cold Ice Tea?

Basically I feel like I am operating right at the border of what I can manage now. Tomorrow is supposed to be about as hot as today. Will have to set off earlier.

Saw a snake today about 4 feet long. It was coloured beautifully green, but the ten centimetres closest to it’s mouth was red, as if to say: Do not touch this end….

17 kilometres today

According to locals I have spoken to, it was 35C in the shade at the hottest part of the day. It is going to be about the same tomorrow.

I only took a small rest in the middle of the day sitting under some trees by a small river. After the rest I went on, and soon my body thermostat was working hard to keep me cool. I came to a tree and decided to spray more water on my head and the sun hat. The tree was in front of some houses, and soon there were some people around. Then a wonderful woman came with a large bowl of very cold water and said I could use it. I thanked her and was so grateful. Sprayed lots of water on all of my upper body Thank you

In front of the tunnel. You can barely see the headlamp in my left hand. I couldn't use it one my head as that was too far off the ground.

Today’s route went up a pretty high mountainside and down again. At the top there was a tunnel, and three lorries waiting in front of it. I spoke to the guys, asking how long the tunnel was. There was absolutely no lighting there, the walls and road were wet, and it looked VERY dark. If it was too long, I was planning to ask if they could take me through it with them.  After a little discussion, they said it was longer than a 100 metres. In my head, that means: longer than 100 metres, but not longer than 200 metres. (Otherwise, that is what they would have said)

They asked if I had a light, and I pulled out my faithful Petzl headlamp. Not exactly the right lamp for the job, but it was all I had. Then I said goodbye, asked then to crash in to me with a smile and headed into the tunnel. Just as I entered, one of the drivers gesticulated at the small sidewalk, and I thought he was suggesting that I walk there for my safety. Then he pointed to one of the tiles the sidewalk was made of, and pretended to throw it away. Great - I got the picture. Some of the tiles were missing, and the sidewalk was the worst place of all to walk.

I went in, and it soon got pitch pitch dark. The tunnel walls and road were very dark and wet so my ‘Three LED headlamp’ only showed what was immediately in front of my feet when I held it down at less than a two feet height. I’m not of the easily scared types, but this was so dark and creepy that I was expecting to fall through a hole any time.

There were not a lot of trucks passing by, but when they did, I hurried to the side, quickly lit the sidewalk at a foots distance and made sure there were three tiles in a row before stepping up to safety.

The tunnel went on and on. When I got out the other side, I measured it to be 900 metres long…

Charming lady by the Jiangjunguan Great Wall.

Then came a long and hard descent My feet and legs were pretty tired by the end of it. Once again it was almost dark when I saw the Great Wall again, creeping up a steep mountain side near Jiangjunguan. I asked a fantastically beautiful old lady if there was a guesthouse close by. As we were talking, two girls passed by, and one of them asked in English if she could help. She and her friend offered to take me to a guesthouse, which was very nice of them. As it turned out, the guesthouse was a fair distance south of the Great Wall. I was so tired when we got here, that I plonked down, and started stretching out my legs straight away so they will feel better tomorrow. Many thanks to the two girls! I was so tired when we got here that I forgot to ask their names!

Have eaten, taken a shower, and my clothes are being washed in a machine now. That’s great, because it means I can start completely fresh tomorrow.

33 kilometres today

I spent a little time in the morning getting organized and repairing my rucksack again. I got the hip belt, which has loosened on the right side, attached properly The left side repair is still holding nicely, so it should last until I’m finished. The repair cost me 5 Yuan. That’s less than a dollar!

I was unlucky and had to wait a couple of hours for the bus to Xinglong. It left 2 o’clock, and they said it took about two hours on a normal day This turned out not to be a normal day.

After half an hour, the traffic came to a complete halt. When the trucks and busses stop the cars drive past on the opposite lane of the narrow road somehow magically expecting not to meet the oncoming traffic. When they do, then the real chaos starts…

Every time the bus came to a halt, the bus driver took his little chair, ran out and found a place in the shade.

We ended up waiting about two hours over the two kilometres and another hour at 3-4 other narrow spots. So the two hour bus ride took five and a half hours and it was getting dark by the time we got to Xinglong. I have just got over diarrhoea and I am grateful that I waited one extra day before returning to the Great Wall. I would have had a terrible time if I had still had a bad tummy on that bus trip.

It wasn’t all bad news though. I was incredibly hot, so it would have been hard to get a lot of good walking done.

So: If you are planning to take a bus between Zunhua and Xinglong in Eastern Hebei any time soon, don’t be surprised if it takes a long time.

I have had yet another stomach bug, and have been in Beijing longer than planned. Have also had an interview with a Beijing newspaper. While lying in bed, I have uploaded some videos to YouTube, and linked to them from the map.

If you go to the Great Wall Route, and look for icons like the one to the right, you will find four videos that have recently been uploaded. The icons are placed as accurately as possible on the map to show where the video was recorded. I hope this will give you another dimension into what it is like walking the Great Wall here in China!

If you want to see a few more videos from this winter, then you can check out my YouTube Channel to see them.

I’m afraid the videos on YouTube are not available in China, but I hope to upload them to the Chinese sites fairly soon. I have also recorded some videos with Chinese speech for this purpose. Just hope the Chinese will understand what I am saying…

Reponse to the latest comments

Kim - Thanks - I’ll send you a mail. Looking very much forward to meeting you!
Bryan - I don’t expect to go to Tianjin.
Gina - Thanks Gina - have a look at the videos, and you will see how dense the bushes are.
Roxanne - Yes - “Bitter-sweet” is probably the closest expression. And I suspect it will only get worse the closer to the end I get.
Hulda - Takk for hyggelig melding! Håper dere koste dere på muren idag! Jeg planlegger å skrive bok når jeg kommer tilbake til Norge om turen. Ønsker å formidle mye av turen gjennom bildene jeg har tatt. Fortsatt god tur!   

The goal of the day was to get to the border of eastern Hebei. Not too warm today either. Don’t misunderstand. It was hot and I was sweating constantly while I was walking, but after temperatures close to 40C, around 30C feels very manageable in comparison.

It is a slight exaggeration to say I am finished with Beijing Municipiality as the Great Wall continues south from today’s end point before it heads eastward towards Shanhaiguan. I will have to check the map carefully to see where I can follow the Great Wall, and where it will be too steep and dangerous.

The Great Wall crosses the end point of the day. It was another misty and grey day, so I didn’t get a very good view of it. I hope to take pictures and investigate the area more thoroughly when I go back there. As I am close to finishing the Beijing Municipiality, I will move my base camp equipment to a town in eastern Hebei. This will probably be the last base camp site before I reach Shanhaiguan. A strange feeling.

24 kilometres today

Some days are starting to become a blur now… This was a day like that. It wasn’t too warm. I started walking after having washed my shirt and myself. It was basically a very grey day. I followed small roads and paths as close to the Great Wall as possible. The mountains here are pretty wild still

At some stage, I went from one valley to another to stay close to The Wall. I had marked the to and from points on the map, and also what looked like the remains of an old fortress on Google Earth. Although it was only one kilometre, that was enough for it to become the highlight of the day. There were some fields, thick with corn on the cob plants, that led to the fortress. Then I had to walk and later climb down a steep descent. As things got steeper and steeper, I thanked myself for the many times my sister and I have been rock climbing in the forests in and around Oslo. That experience at least kept me from panicking when it looked too steep to continue the descent, and too dangerous to climb up again.

28 kilometres today

There was more thunder and lightning last night and a lot of rain. It had stopped by morning. I spent the night at a guesthouse. Because of the TV antenna wire, there was a slit in the window sufficient to let in adventure seeking mosquitos during the night. They had feasted on me, but luckily the bites didn’t itch much.

Before walking on, I managed to find a place where they could repair my rucksack. The pocket in the top lid had a large hole because the zip had loosened from the rucksack. It took only 3 minutes to fix and means I don’t have to worry about losing small items from it.

The walk today brought me all the way to the most eastern section of the opposite U shaped path here. I got to see some Great Wall being excavated. They were digging around a large square to reveal the lower walls of what looked to be a small fortress at the foot of some very impressive mountains.

I asked the labourers if any of them had tried to follow the Great Wall up the mountains. One guy said he had for less than an hour, but then it got too dangerous.

I have not washed myself or my clothes for some days now, so will try and do that tomorrow morning before moving on. Will be spending my second night at the same guesthouse tonight.

It has been threatening to rain all day long, and although there have been 3-4 downpours, they didn’t last for long. No thunder while walking.

30 kilometres today

I woke up to thunder at 4 o’clock in the morning, but it stayed at a comfortable distance. Then I continued following the Great Wall where the last little stretch went up the Simatai bridge. On a short section from a riverbed going upwards, there were protective walls on the actual wall so that the defending soldiers could beat off any attacking soldiers which had managed to breach the wall. They could fire arrows at the attackers while slowly retreating to their (last) defence which was the watchtower. I will get a picture on the web when I have a chance.

Simatai is closed and there was a lot of activity going on at what seems to be the new tourist centre. I got talking to a couple of guys who kindly offered me cold water. Shortly after, a number of security guards urged me to get off the premises. I showed them the water bottle, and said that I intended to drink it up first. Got talking to the guards too and they seemed to like what I was doing.

In the village just by the tourist centre, I got some breakfast at a cafe. The people there were very nice, and soon I took a picture of four generations of women! Aged 3, 25, 56 and 77! The husband of the 25 year old had heard about the walk and asked if I was Robert. It is strange to be recognized in China. He had read the Sina blog that Sue, who has lived in Denmark, has very kindly been holding. Thanks Sue!

His wife comes from a small village that lies by the Great Wall. They showed me pictures from it. I would liked to have made a visit there, and perhaps I can later when they are also there. In this area the mountains are very wild, and following it only for a short stretch is an expedition in itself. Therefore I cannot take every branch that leads to a short section of it.

Later in the day I pressed on eastwards. It was constantly threatening to rain, but never quite did, luckily.

21 kilometres today

It rained when I arrived at Gubeikou late in the afternoon yesterday. I was unlucky and ended up on a slow bus. Average speed about 40 km/h and it went on the small roads wherever possible.

After eating at Gubeikou it also started to thunder just like the weather forecast said. I found a guesthhouse and spent the night there.

More rain this morning, and in the middle of the day I and my feet have been soaking for the better part of the day. It is warm though, so it isn’t a big problem. The new shoes feel good on my feet, so no blisters for a while there I hope.

The stretch today was a classic - from Gubeikou, past Jinshanling and to Simatai. Right now I am in a watchtower right before Simatai. I considered going down to look for a place to spend the night, but fun to spend a night in a watchtower too. This one even seems to have a lightning grounding system and also lies low compared to the surroundings.

The walk was fantastic today. The only regret was that it was grey the entire time, and sometimes so misty that I could only see a hundred metres ahead. This is definitely a stretch I want to do again in better weather when I have more time to look around both the scenery and all the interesting watchtowers I passed today.

They have interesting names with stories behind them. The Generals Tower which was ordered to be built by General Qi Jiguang in 1569, The Dark Tower named because of its small size and hence dark interior, The Jinshan Towers said to be built by soldiers from Jingzhe naming their towers after an island close to their home and The Flower Tower with doors and windows carved with flowers.

Today has been pretty hilly, and I am tired. There are two dogs barking down in the valley. I just heard a bat fly in the watchtower, and also got a shock when a rock fell to the ground Have also heard an animal run around just outside the tent. I hope it is just a curious squirrel. I have seen a lot of them in watchtowers today.

19 kilometres today