Other Wallkers


As a result of the complex nature of all the different walls that constitute our conception of “The Wall”, it is hard to define the starting and ending points of it. As a result, there are several claims to have been the first person to have walked “The Wall”.

A discrepancy you may notice is the length of the walks. For instance, the distance of the most popular walk from Jiayuguan to Shanhaiguan varies from 2470 km to 4780 km. The reason for this is that although an expedition has had the same start and end points, they may have had varying definitions of what constitutes a walk along the Great Wall. Also, the earlier expeditions did not have the aid of sat-nav (GPS) to accurately measure the covered distance.

There are probably several more people that have walked the wall, and if you have comments to the list below, please contact me. Please supply as much information about the expedition as possible.

Please refer to the map under the list to see the start and end points of the walks.

2007 – Mark Scholinz – 276 days – 4780 km
Walked along the Ming dynasty wall from Jiayuguan to Shanhaiguan. Mar 17, 2007 to Dec 18, 2007.

2007 – Emma Nicholas and Brendan Fletcher – almost 4000 km
Walked along the Ming dynasty wall from Jiayuguan to Shanhaiguan. Delayed for 3,5 months because of injury. Jun 16, 2006 to Jul 10, 2007.

2007 – Tarka L’Herpiniere and Katie-Jane Cooper – 167 days – 4300 km
Walked along the Han and Ming walls from Yumenguan to Hushan

2002 – Gayle Hall – 174 days – more than 4000 km
Walked along several walls with two companions from Yumenguan to Shanhaiguan

2002 – Nathan Gray – 2 years – more than 4000 km
Walked along the Ming dynasty wall from Jiayuguan to Shanhaiguan

1987 – William Lindsey – 78 days – 2470 km
Ran along the Ming Dynasty wall from Jiayuguan to Shanhaiguan

1985 – Dong Yaohui – 508 days
Walked along the Ming Dynasty wall from Shanhaiguan to Jiajuguan with two companions. Arrived Sep 24, 1985.