The Great Wall’ker

Here you can see an article about the walk in The Beijing News that was in print the 4th of July.

There has been quite a lot of interest for the walk lately, and while I remain fairly close to Beijing, I hope to meet some more journalists to talk about the walk. As the interest for the walk seems to grow in China, I am considering contacting a Chinese cancer institute to ask if it would be possible for me to start raising money in China for them on the remainder of my walk.

I have been walking during a very hot period lately. I have also been walking fairly good distances. The Great Wall has been too dangerous to follow all the way from Huairou to Gubeikou as many people on the Chinese blog have warned me. As a result of walking more along roads and paths, I have started using jogging shoes. The shoes I used were not very old, but all the same, as  the soles have got grooves right under my feet this has resulted in several blisters.

I therefore decided to go to Beijing for a whole day to get some R&R and get a new pair of jogging shoes that my sister and mother brought over when they came to visit earlier this year. That will hopefully mean I will be getting fewer blisters.

Can’t wait to get back to Gubeikou and the Great Wall East of it in the Panlongshan area.

Yes - Bryan - I believe it will be the first time I see the Northern Qi Great Wall. Can’t wait!

Today I got to Gubeikou.

The area around Gubeikou has a particularly famous stretch of the Great Wall that was of great strategical importance. It was first built during the Northern Qi Dynasty (550-557). About 800 years later (!) the Great Wall was extended and strengthened during the early Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The stretch is special because it has been preserved in it’s original state rather than rebuilt.

It will be a great feeling to think that nobody has done building work to The Wall I am walking on since the people who were alive during the actual Ming Dynasty! I can’t wait and am bringing a tripod to try and snap some good pictures, and hopefully some pictures of myself on the Great Wall too. This is hard without having a tripod, or another person.

Started walking quarter past six this morning determined to get as much done as possible before it got too hot. The forecast for Huairou was 43 degrees C, and I was dreading it. I am about 45 kilometres northeast of Huairou, so don’t know if it was as hot here.

There was a breeze luckily. I walked a respectable distance before noon, and then sat down under some trees. There were plenty of blood sucking insects ready to have a go at me, so I put on the mosquito net again. (klegg, hestebrems og flekkflue) As the sun shifted, so did I to stay under the shade.

After three, it felt cooler, so I went on. At five, I got to a place where they had a guesthouse and served food. I had only eaten an instant noodle serving earlier in the day, and was starving! Had a dinner, and will have another soon.

26 kilometres today

Woke up a little after 5am. Then it started raining, so I had to wait an hour more before packing down the tent.

There were clouds today which made it a little cooler than yesterday. I walked the last stretch of the day without my shirt, which was wonderful. There were suprisingly few mosquitos too - no doubt they will show up in force later.

At lunchtime, I found a place where they had a Xiao Lu Dian - a small guesthouse. I explained that I only wanted to stay the warmest hours of the day, and then walk on. The lady understood and said I could take a shower and wash my clothes too.

First I got a dinner next door, and then slept a little, then washed my shirt, took a (wonderful) shower and then rested some more. Then before leaving, I took another full dinner. Lying in a small patch of a field out of sight from people now.

It feels a little cooler than yesterday. Perhaps I am a bit cooler because I  walked without a shirt the last bit…

21 kilometres today

Saturday 3rd of July

I didn’t sleep at all last night. It was too hot. Started walking a little after 6 a.m. and walked until it got dark, with a break of several hours during the hottest part of the day

Had a hard time finding a good spot to pitch the tent. Ended up under a tree in an orchard. A problem I am having with walking until dark is that I keep on generating a lot of heat when I want to sleep. It takes a long time to cool down. The last two nights, I have not bothered using my sleeping bag - no need at all.

23 kilometres today

I started walking about 3 PM today, hoping the worst heat of the day would be over. It might have been too, but it was still incredibly hot.

At about 7 PM I got a meal, but I ate less than half. Have set up the tent now and the sweat is running. There is a slight wind luckily.

Completely exhausted!

11 kilometres today