With the first steps along the Great Wall in the Gobi desert, a 21 year old dream had come to life. I didn't know how long time it would take to complete it. All I knew was that I had taken all the necessary steps to start living the adventure!
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The Gobi desert is enormous, as is the Great Wall winding its way through the sandy inhospitable landscape. On longest stretch without people I hauled ten liters of drink, and three kilo's food to be sure to make it...
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These tombs are from the Xixia dynasty that Genghis Khan personally led an army to destroy 1226 . All known written history was destroyed, and every soul in the capital killed. Only lately have we started learning about the Xixia people.
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The combination of cold weather, little food and water often led to exhaustion and at times dangerous situations.
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When the nighttime temperatures dropped below -25C / -13F, I would seek refuge inside. As I was carrying all equipment on my back, that was the lowest temperature I could endure.
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The Hebei and Beijing areas are very mountainous. Some days I would only walk 5 km per day. Some sections were left out altogether as they were too dangerous.
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Temperatures rose up to 45C / 113F the summer of 2010. The heat was crippling, and I could spend up to 3-4 hours resting under trees in the middle of the day. Every evening in the tent, I would stay awake to cool down before being able to sleep.
Read moreHave had a very good walking day today. Although I got off to a late start after 9 am, I was able to cover a long distance. This is simply done by keeping a high speed, and stop having any breaks! Not something I can recommend in the long run. […]
I got back to the walking today and had high expectations of doing some good walking, but they were stopped by terrible weather. Early on it started raining hard, and at times it beltet down. It was very cold, and just on the verge of snowing. I was following a […]
Yesterday I bought the tickets back home to Norway. A very strange feeling really. I am looking very much forward to coming home – no doubt about it. At the same time though, I have a growing understanding (and perhaps fear) of how drastically my life is going to […]
I have taken a semi relaxing day today, washing lots of clothes, answering mails and then attending a net meeting in a Norwegian newspaper. You can read the questions and answer here. (They are in Norwegian) For dere i Norge – imorgen stiller jeg opp i NRK Nitimen. Tror det […]
Update – I forgot to mention that I have now reached Fushun which is the town that Sue comes from. Sue is a Chinese living in Denmark, and has been helping me a lot with practical matters since she heard about this walk. Thanks for all your help Sue 🙂 […]
First a big thanks to my parents Jean and Tor. They have put up with quite a lot from me already. Like when I bought an extremely warm sleeping bag in my early teens and insisted on sleeping outside on the coldest nights in wintertime. After an initial ‘are you […]
On this last stretch on the eastern most part of my route, the terrain is getting more mountainous. This is good news, as it means the chances of finding intact parts of the Great Wall are greater than the flat agricultural plains I have passed. The Great Wall in this […]
Today I walked as far north in the Liaoning loop as I had planned. As I made the turn southwards, I got the sun in my face – a nice change. Heading straight for the end point of the walk, I started thinking about Norway and all the people I […]
First a big thanks to my girlfriend Trude. She has been ever supportive of this project, and always offers encouragement and understanding when we speak, mail or text. Thanks for waiting for me all this time! She has also visited me in China twice on my trip, and apart from […]