The Great Wall’ker

I went to bed really early yesterday and got up before the sun at half past five. I started walking an hour later.  This time is was nice and cool, which was great! The light was beautiful, so I spent too much time photographing instead of making progress. The weather forecast for today said a high of 37 C in the shadow (99 F) so I wanted to get as far as possible before it got too hot. This time I had plenty of Ice Tea with me and peanuts and some dried fruits.

The Wolfberry harvesting season is at it’s peak and wooden frames full of red berries are to be seen all over. The Chinese call the berries Gou qi. As I started heading for the impassable stretch, I met three ladies talking. One of them was processing the Wolfberries. First beating them with a wooden plank, then holding them high and dropping them in the wind to separate the dry green stalk from the berries.

They looked pretty sceptical untill I showed them the end product, (The picture I took) and then they were in front of my camera wherever I pointed it!

By this time it was getting hotter. With only a few kilometres to the very challenging part of the Great Wall, because of steep mountains, I saw a mud hut. I needed to drink and went in and sat down. I was sweating a lot and it took quite a long time before I cooled down. Probably a good idea to let the body cool down when I have the chance.

It wasn’t difficult to see where the previous Great Wall’kers have deemed it too hard to follow the Great Wall route. The Wall went straight up a steep hill. Up until now it had been made mostly by rammed earth, but here, they had used stones instead. I wanted to see what the terrain looked like on the other side and managed to climb the steep hill. It was difficult, because the ground was full of loose small rocks. Some of them looked like slate, and I slid several times, but used the walking poles to keep my balance.

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To the left the Great Wall is made by rammed earth. Because of the steep hill, they have used stones on the right hand side.

Battlement on the Great Wall. The enemy territory on the other side. The Great Wall uses features of the hills to add to it's defencive capability.

The other side was pretty wild. Steep mountains and a very dry terrain. Not the sort of stretch to walk alone - certainly not in the middle of July!

25 kilometres today.

I got up about seven o’clock this morning ready to beat the heat with a fairly early start. In Inner Mongolia, this would have been early enough to escape the high temperature, but here in Ningxia, there was no hope. I went to the airport north of Zhongwei and found a very large beacon tower by a Great Wall fortress. It took a bit of dodging and walking around fences to get to it. The beacon tower must be the second biggest one I’ve seen so far and there was a metal stair-like installation so one could walk to the top of it. I did and enjoyed the sight for a while.

But there was a problem. It was before nine o’clock, and I was already sweating incredibly hard. It was dripping from my face and into my eyes. It was humid too. I shook my head and thought - I can’t do this. If I’m sweating this much before nine o’clock, then this day is going to be absolute murder. After letting the heartbeat slow down a bit, I started walking and luckily the Great Wall went along a quiet road for the first stretch.

After a while, the wind picked up a little and this made the walking (and sweating) better. Soon, I was off-road trying to follow the Great Wall as closely as possible. In this area the Tengger desert reaches the Great Wall and sometimes swallows it completely.  I walked past a small brick factory. I have wanted to see how the bricks are made from start to finish, but the actual stove wasn’t lit, so I’ll leave it for another day.

Towards the end of the day, it became very windy and I could see dark clouds gathering behind me. After a while the air was filled with sand. People were hurrying home, or at least taking shelter. Even the dogs understood something was about to happen, as they didn’t bark at me when I walked past.

I called it quits after a little less than 20 kilometres. I was really exhausted as the heat on the first half of the trip had taken a lot of energy from me. The biggest problem with the heat is that not only does it drain energy, but it also drains me mentally. I’m not used to this intense heat and walking around in it doesn’t make that much sense. Will try for a much earlier start tomorrow.

It is raining now.

I was excited from the very start today, knowing that I would end up where the Great Wall meets the Yellow River. It felt warmer than yesterday, and from the very beginning I was sweating a lot. Luckily though I am getting used to the heat. Even though I am almost constantly damp with sweat, it is not that uncomfortable any longer.

The first part was really hilly. Some places there was a drop of a hundred metres on one edge. Some places The Wall was surprisingly wide. They are building some gigantic electricity towers close to the Great Wall and on one section, they had built a dirt road right next to The Wall. I followed the Great Wall route.  Comparing the distance I walked with the actual road, it became obvious that in sections I was walking about double the length of the road.

The Great Wall meets the Yellow River (And so does Robert)

Then came the long descent towards the Yellow River. I kept my eyes open and saw the wide river in the distance. The Yellow River has dug itself quite far down, so it wasn’t until I got really close, that I could get a good view. Wow - the Great Wall is Great, and the Yellow River is impressive. I soon started imagining what it would be like to kayak down the river. The current was pretty strong. Looking over to the other shore, I saw a vertical cliff that must have been about 150 metres high.

It was fantastic to look down at the mighty river. Nearly all the rivers I have seen so far have been almost dry. The Yellow River will definitely not dry up any time soon. I was happy to have reached it. This is the most southern point of my entire Great Wall hike and it was fun to be at this point the day before the sun is at it’s highest point at noon, meaning that the northern hemisphere is closest to the sun.

I looked for evidence of the Great Wall on the other side of the Yellow River, but found none where I was standing, apart from what might have been three beacon towers. Then I walked southwards and found what might be a Great Wall Beacon tower built of stone. I looked across the Yellow River at this point and to my surprise found what could have been the Great Wall sneaking it’s way up on the other side! You can read more about the findings at the Great Wall Forum.

I found no evidence of any wall going northwards on the western side of the Yellow River, so I did as planned: I bid the Great Wall a temporary farewell and will walk along small and large roads to get to the point where it crosses back on the western or northern side of the Yellow River.

As I started following a dry riverbed in the right direction, it started to drizzle. It was nice to get a little cold water on my body. The sides of the mountains on either side got steeper and higher.  It felt strange and a little depressing being in such a claustrophobic place after having followed the Great Wall along mountain tops and ridges for so long. The river bed started bending off to the south and west instead of north, so in the end I left it and went off-river-bed, climbing over a small mountain to the north.

13 - 14 km today, but I’m happy considering the late start and pretty hilly terrain. (This is nothing compared to when I get closer to Beijing, mind you)

I didn’t start walking until three in the afternoon. The Great Wall goes through a fairly hilly area here and steeper than before. I followed The Wall and was happy to see the first stones, so far, which were used for building the Great Wall! There was still rammed earth in the middle but in the steeper sections, they had used stones on each side to give better strength and longevity, I suspect. Some places where it was very steep, there was only a small stone wall remaining, but that is probably all they needed in these sections since the steepest places are difficult to get over in the first place.

It was fun to see something different along The Wall. A little later, The Wall entered a large open mine. They were mining what looked like iron ore in some areas, but the rocks were black in other places. I didn’t see any people where I was walking, but heard a mighty dynamite blast go off in another area. It was difficult to follow The Wall because I had to make several detours on the roads in the mine. The Wall was completely gone in some places.

Bjartman - Thanks for the comment yesterday! Congratulations with the baby!! I am deeply honoured that you have named her after me!! At least with two letters as you mentioned. I’ll go for three lettters next time

Dark clouds started rolling in from the west and I decided to set up the tent. Just before I got to a good camp site, I saw my first snake along the Great Wall. I stopped immediately and was happy to have the walking sticks between me and it. It wasn’t very big - about four and a half metres long, thicker than my thigh and had eyes bigger than tea saucers… Haha… Well - that’s what it felt like It was tiny and it lay still, so I got some good shots of it. I wasn’t expecting to see snakes this far west on the Great Wall. Right now I am about 1.800 metres above sea level.

I’ve left the stove behing this time and stocked up with small dumplings with meat, corn on the cob, chocolates and peanuts. So I’m going to have myself a little feast in the tent now and wash it all down with Ice Tea. It has been hot and humid today, with pretty heavy clouds and wind. It has just started drizzling outside now. I’m sitting here in just my underpants because it is still warm now at 9 o’clock in the evening.