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I have spent several hours today listening to “The Hobbit” by JRR Tolkien. I am on a long journey just like he and his 13 dwarf companions, so I find it amusing listening to all the emotions Mr Bilbo Baggins goes through. Many times a week he daydreams about sitting in his favourite chair at home eating his second breakfast. (Hobbits like their meals)

I can sense a change in the scenery now. It has become softer and greener, more like “The Shire” where Bilbo lives, than places I have walked through the last months.

There is still plenty of sand around, but I see a lot more grass than before. There are trees here that don’t look like they have been planted manually.

I found the Great Wall without too much difficulty south of Dingbian today, luckily. A few kilometres later to the east, I lost it because it was replaced by farmers fields, but by following it’s approximate course, I hooked up with it later.

I passed an enormous fortress today. Mighty, but difficult to photograph.

Have been trying to plan the rest of this stretch to get to Jingbian. It is quite discouraging looking at the provincial map knowing the scale is the double of that of the last province, Ningxia. The Great Wall soon turns southwards for a couple of days before going back north towards Jingbian. I am excited to see the landscape in the area. Although it was a bit misty today, I could see hills on the horizon.

27 kilometres today.