The Great Wall’ker

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

Blue fantastic skies this morning too. Nothing better than to wake up to a warm sun knocking on the tent door after a fairly cold night.

I use a down winter sleeping bag and the down has a tendency to move to the top part of the sleeping bag after some days usage. Before I went to sleep yesterday, I knocked some down to the bottom part. Looks like I did the job too well, because it was cold on the top last night for the first time ever.

This morning my feet became wet when the boots warmed up. My boots had a thick layer of melted snow and mud on them last evening. This morning they were rock solid ice.

I had placed them so as to stop the tent entrance flapping too much in the strong wind. There was no snow last night, but I wonder if the humidity inside the boots turned to ice before it evaporated. The other alternative is that they are not as Gore-Tex’y now as when I started using them. I hope for the first option. They are beside me now above a radiator slowly drying out.

The goal for the day was Shahukou as I could hitch a ride to a place where I could stock up on food both in the rucksack and in my stomach. At what I thought was the end of the day, a middle sized river separated me from Shahukou. By this time my cold and wet feet made me feel cold as soon as I stopped. I walked along the river looking for a place to get over. Got over to an island half way, but found no crossing point to the last half. I considered taking off the boots and wading, but there was still ice on the river in places, and I didn’t like the prospect of standing on ice as it broke under my bare feet. Ice can be as sharp as glass if one is unlucky. I took the safe (and boring) alternative and walked 5-6 kilometres crossing over a bridge to the north.

By the time I got to a guesthouse, all I could think of was warming my feet. Luckily, the Chinese always have hot water at hand, so soon I had both feet in a bucket of hot water. Felt like a lovely spa.

I have just finished two whole dinners, and have drunk 2.5 litres after arriving at Shahukou. Starting to feel normal again.

My mind has played a trick on me. I have started calling Shanxi Shaanxi. The former is the province I am in now. It is pronounced with the first tone (high and flat), and this seems longer to me than Shaanxi which is written with the third tone (low falling and then rising). Next time, I’ll just have to remember the first sign of Shanxi which means mountain and is pronounced with the first tone. (This won’t make that much sense to those that don’t understand a little Chinese.)

Speaking of mountains. I descended from 1750 metres above sea level to about 1450 today. In only a few days time, I will see the flat plains north of Datong in front of me. With a few exceptions, they last until Hebei - the next province.

24 kilometres today

No internet coverage on the mobile phone. This is the report for Monday 1st of March.

I was surprised, after so much snow, to be greeted by the warm sun this morning. All I had to do was open the two tent doors and it shone straight on my face. It also started melting and later drying the ice and snow in and on my tent and sleeping bag.

When I started walking, the sun disappeared as grey clouds drew in from the  south. They have been the main ingredient of the day together with snow and a strong wind.

The Great Wall follows high ridges almost all the time here. Luckily on some parts there was a small dirt road right beside The Wall. The snow made it difficult to walk on the steep slopes and slowed me down.

It snowed for a couple of hours. In the afternoon I started scouting for inhabited houses as I was very short on water. I started talking to an older woman without startling her too much, and she invited me into her home. She kindly gave me boiling water to make some noodles I have brought along. She was not of the timid type and asked me if I wanted a smoke before she lit one up for herself. It was fun to sit on a warm Kang again.

At the end of the walking day, I was climbing a fairly steep section of the Great Wall. The visibility was really poor and snow was blowing strongly horizontally across my path. The Great Wall disappeared into thick fog. I decided this was enough for one day, and climbed back down to a place I knew I could set up the tent. It was challenging to set up in the strong wind, but the earth is still soft, so I could nail it to the ground before starting to raise it.

16 kilometres today

It started snowing at 10 am and went on until after dark. About 6 cm all together. Was happy I made the decision to stay in the tent as there was a fairly high wind in addition to all the snow. Am at 1700 metres above sea level, and at these heights it is sensible to be careful.

In the tent, I listened to a book by Conn Iggulden called Genghis Lords of the Bow. It is the second in a series and many of the stories happen in places I have seen on this walk. The San Guan Kou pass is on the border between Inner Mongolia and Ningxia, where Genghis broke through the Xixia defences after leading his warriors on a treacherous journey through the Gobi desert that almost killed them. It’s about the Xixia people and their fortress in Yinchuan, and the mighty Yellow River. Having been to all these places makes the stories come alive.

Indeed staying a whole day and two nights encamped right by the Great Wall on the border to Inner Mongolia, while the wind and snow is making life miserable for those outside, gives me an insight into how tough these warriors were.

Many thanks to brother Jon for making adjustments to the picture gallery yesterday

Took a bus from Datong to Youyu at 6.25 am, and then a taxi to the Great Wall.

One of the things my mother brought to China were some of her flapjacks. Incredibly tasty and nutritious cakes with all sorts of healthy stuff in them. This walk would have gone faster if I had had a steady supply of them. Thanks mum!

A lot of ‘firsts’ today. At least since December last year. The ice has melted so that I can stick the plugs properly into the ground to secure the tent. I have enough extra clothes to make a small pillow. I used the knee support for the first time. There is about one hour extra daylight now.

It is also much warmer, but the forecast says there might be a couple of -15C nights left. Almost no snow left. Instead there is plenty of slippery mud - especially on the hills. It shouldn’t be long before it dries up. But never say never. They expect about 3 inches of wet snow and rain tomorrow. That’s why I secured the tent as well as possible.

14 kilometres today

This week my walk along the Great Wall is featured over four pages in the Norwegian magazine: Vi Menn. They also wrote an article after I kayaked the length of Norway back in 2005.

The magazine will be on sale until Tuesday next week.

Welcome to new readers of this blog. I write here every day when I am out walking. A new picture is also posted every day. By clicking on the link to the left marked Great Wall Route, you can see exactly how far I have come. If you click on the picture to the left, you come to the picture gallery.

Happy family reunion on the Great Wall

My mother, sister and I have spent the last days together in Beijing. It has been great to see my family again after so many months alone along the Great Wall. Here is a picture taken of us while we visited the Great Wall a few days ago. Thank you very much for the visit Tone og mamma!

Tomorrow I return to Datong and will soon be back walking the Great Wall again. The forecast looks a lot better now. The minimum temperature varies a lot, but is about minus ten on average which makes my life a lot easier.

This is what the Great Wall looks like where I have come to in Shaanxi Province.

The fireworks have been going off since I arrived in Beijing 5-6 hours ago. They are getting more and more intense. This is a big contrast to the 31st of December in the small village called Mazhen just west of the Yellow River. That evening I didn’t hear a single firecracker go off.

A special thanks to the Chinese readers. Thank you very much for following my journey along the Great Wall! It means a lot for me to be able to share this adventure.

Wishing you all a very happy and prosperous New Year!

My mother and sister arrive tomorrow and we will spend about ten days together here in Beijing. It will be good to be together with my family again.

It’s my birthday today. I was planning on celebrating it by walking the Great Wall. But because of a bad forecast some days ago that since has changed for the better, I will be celebrating in Datong. Will go out and have a good meal, and do some Skyping in the evening. A pretty low key event in other words…

Other than that I will be working on pictures and washing dirty clothes. On the 8th I go to Hong Kong to apply for a new visa, and then meet up with my sister and mother in Beijing which will be great! Am really looking forward to seeing someone I know again. So there will be a break from the Great Wall now.

Thank you very much for the birthday congratulations   

I knew I was in for a cold one. There was no wind, so within a few hours, there was a lot of humidity hanging from the inner tent in the form of ice. I had a 1.5 litre bottle of apple juice as a cold companion in the sleeping bag so that it wouldn’t turn to ice during the night. Although I had walked a fair distance considering the conditions and was physically tired, I lay awake for a long time. I had absolutely all my clothes on. Fives layers on the upper body, and two on my legs and feet. Because the tent is small, I had to try and move carefully every time I turned around. This didn’t prevent ice falling in my face and on the bottom part of the sleeping bag making it wet.

Next morning I started packing the tent while a dog barked at me from a safe distance.

Yesterday’s forecast said there was more snow on it’s way, so I decided to return to Datong today. Every day I have to cross 6-8 steep valleys, and I don’t want to risk walking in hilly terrain with ice under newly fallen snow. That would be pushing my luck too far.

In a few days I go to Hong Kong to apply for a new Visa as the one I have now soon runs out. Then I will meet my sister and mother in Beijing! I am really looking forward to seeing them again after so many months of solitude in China.

12 kilometres today

Today was a beautiful day. The wind was pretty strong, and since it was cold all day, and partly cloudy it was cold. Some places there was a path along the Great Wall. The landscape continues to be coorporative. Nice rolling hills allowing for some fine Great Wall pictures. Yes Sue - I have taken some good pictures lately - the only thing stopping me is that the camera is very cold and has a metal body. Brrrrr…

There are valleys at regular intervals, and since I am walking northwards, descending in to these valleys is extra challenging. I fell once today due to hidden ice under some earth. Luckily it happened at the right place. A few times, I have decided to take the longer route around these trouble spots when it has looked too risky.

It was a shame to have to stop walking the Great Wall at around five o’clock. I could have gone on for longer, but the sun was close to the horizon, and without the sun, this place very soon becomes very cold.

23 kilometres today

I am sitting on a warm Kang now. Can’t get over how comfortable they are. I almost feel like a cat sitting in the sun. I am at a very small guesthouse waiting for a meal that they are preparing.

It was windy today. I had no water left, so had to ask a couple times for water from locals along the Great Wall. The goal for the day was to get to a road and try to find a guesthouse and a place to eat. The meal has just been served now, so you know I got there as planned.

What has not gone to plan however is that THIS was the night that was supposed to be -20c cold. Just checked the forecast and now it says -20c tomorrow. Bummer. So I’m going to feast on a very large meal now and drink some of the 4.5 litres of apple juice I bought in the shop along the road. I’ll decide later what to do tomorrow.

The Kang (Chinese style bed where the fumes from a stove are channeled under the bed before going up the chimney) is right next to a large window. The view is nice now that the sun is setting. Soft hills and a beacon tower on the horizon. A lot of fields and some trees in the distance.

14 kilometres today
The point on the map will show the place I am spending the night and not exactly how far I have come along the Great Wall. Didn’t have time to send the point before hitching a ride on a large trailer.

The landscape has become softer lately. The Great Wall still, mostly, follows the ridges of the terrain, but it usually doesn’t require as much effort to follow it. There is earth erosion here, but not as severe as in Shaanxi province to the West.

The are however other challenges. Last night was cold, and because there was no wind to circulate the air in the tent, a layer of ice (”rim” in Norwegian) had formed on the inside of the inner tent. I hadn’t slept much through the night and decided to sleep as it grew warmer. This also meant the tent and sleeping bag would be dry by the time I started walking.

The sun doesn’t hit the Northern hills in the terrain. As a result there is old snow and ice there. The problem is that some places the ice is under a thin layer of soil. This makes walking difficult, and I have slipped a few times. A slip might not sound that bad, but with a five meter drop just a couple of feet away, it could definately ruin the day. I prod the ground with my walking sticks and try to stay away from dangerous descents.

Yesterday and today the forecast has been -16c. Tomorrow night it is -20c. I might try and find somewhere to spend the night indoors tomorrow. After that, it is supposed to get warmer.

16 Kilometres today

It was so cold and windy this morning that it took me time to get out of the sleeping bag. Didn’t start walking til after eleven.

After a couple of hours I got to a small village and knocked on a door to ask where the small shop in town was. Had heard from a shepherd that there was one there. A young woman called Yu Lan answered the door, and immediately asked if I would like to eat with her and her mother. I thanked her very much. They told me the shop didn’t have any food. Not even instant noodles. The mother in the house had made the best large dumplings I have tasted in China. Also an egg and tomato soup and a salad. I was so grateful for the meal. Later I showed them pictures from life in Norway. Then Yu Lan’s Grandmother and brother came to the house and we took some pictures. All the time there was a funny 15 day old goat jumping around in the room. It was too small and weak to be outside with the rest of the herd now.

Yu Lan asked if I would like to spend the night with them as a relative was arriving tomorrow. I would really have liked to, but there was still daylight and I wanted to walk further.

Thank you for your hospitality Yu Lan and family!

I’m in the tent and sleeping bag now. It should be a bit warmer tonight, and less windy. Yesterday the wind was so hard that I used ear plugs to shut out the noise of the banging tent sheets so I could sleep after getting warm.

16 kilometres today

Friday 29th. Written 30th because it was too cold yesterday.

Took three buses to get back to where I last stopped walking. Walking the Great Wall of China was fantastic. I probably saw more stone clad Great Wall this afternoon than in total so far. This is exciting as it is a little taster of what is to come in Hebei and Beijing.

Milestone - for the first time on the walk, a person didn’t believe that I had walked all the way from Jiayuguan. I like milestones like that.

A woman asked: Why don’t you walk during the summer, so I told her I had been in Gansu and Ningxia

I was very cold when I finally got in the sleeping bag yesterday. Spent literally hours to get some warmth. Then I heard what seemed to be thunder. Was placed right at the top of a hill, so got out and walked away from the top to see where the bad weather was. Didn’t see any more, so went back to the by now cold sleeping bag. Can there be thunder in well below sub zero conditions I wonder?

My left knee is a bit painful, but I try to walk a bit slower than usual, especially walking down steep hills

15 Kilometres today