Climbing the Great wall of China part 1

The Great Wall of China, one of the New 7 wonders of the world. Even though “new” isn’t the best word to use as the wall is over 2300 years old! The wall is 13,000 miles long and most parts of the wall are just broken remains. Most of the areas visited have been restored over time, the oldest parts that have survived date back to the Ming dynasty.

I decided a few years ago to do a charity walk along part of this ancient landmark, don’t ask why, I just fancied doing it. After signing up with an amazing company Discover Adventure I started collecting sponsorships, the money I wanted to raise was for the Alzheimers society.

I had to then prepare for the trek. We had a training guide, which I stuck to, and a kit list. I shortly found out that nothing could of prepared me for the emotional and tiring journey ahead of us.

Each day we would carry what we needed for that day, layers, food, first aid kits and lots of water. The mini bus would drive our main luggage to the next night stop. The nights were at hotels, but nothing like what you would find in the UK. Sometimes no hot water and the toilets were the squat types. Toilet breaks during the walk consisted of a bush or tree.

Day 1.

Heathrow airport, a bunch of individuals and a few couples met near the check-in desks, all excited and nervous at the same time. None of us had met before, when finally our partners and families said goodbye we were left to start this epic 10 day adventure.

We Flew to Beijing, with Cathay Pacific with a change of flight at Hong Kong. Once we arrived in Beijing, we stopped for dinner at a local restaurant. We were served dishes very different from ‘English Chinese dishes’. We were all hesitant to eat the strange food at first not knowing what anything was. But soon the ice broke and we were all chatting and eating.

The first night stay was at a 3* hotel. I had my own room as there was an odd number of us. I have to admit I was a bit scared the first night, the guide had our passports for safe keeping and being all alone I was worried of ‘what if they forget about me?’ But the next morning one of the girls had knocked on my door and I knew all was going to be ok.

Day 2.

An early start and a drive to Huangyaguan, a small town in the Yanshan mountains. The mini bus dropped us off at the top of one of the mountains and we had to walk down to the hotel at the base. When I say ‘down’ the Great wall follows the peaks so to go down you still have to go up! This was our first sight of the Wall itself and wow was it incredible.

You just can’t get the size of the Wall from pictures, experiencing for yourself is a must.
This part had some very steep sections of the Wall, and it gave us our first insight of what was to come. It was very hard work, and not all the steps were the same size, some were about 18″ high.

This section of the walk was 3.5 miles long and it took us about 2.5 hours to walk. The views were amazing, and as this part of the wall had been restored, made it even more spectacular.

Breakfast (and following breakfasts) consisted off bread and jam, fried eggs and jasmine tea. Lunch we had to make ourselves, it consisted of bread, spam, boiled eggs and fruit. The evening meal was at a local restaurant. The food for the whole trip was very good, mostly vegetable dishes, occasionally some meat and fish but always sticky Jasmine rice. After we all sat outside around a large fire getting to know each other and discussing the day so far.

Day 3.

Set off this morning was very early because we had a big day ahead of us.

Starting at the Wall where we ended yesterday we set off in the other direction.

This climb was up very steep renovated steps, we climbed and climbed. Stopping very often to catch our breaths. Once we arrived at what we thought was the top, we discovered what looked like a sheer cliff face. This was heavens ladder! 200 steps going straight up with no places to stop or pass people. I had been dreading this part before I left for China.

I’m not going to lie, it was extremely hard and I don’t think I was the only one. Once at the top relief and a sense of achievement overwhelmed me and I got a bit emotional. But once we cleared the trees you could see how high we had climbed and we were rewarded with the best views of the rolling hills.

The Wall was just rubble up here, parts fallen away over the many years. So following the ridge of the hill we hiked towards the remains of a larger structure, maybe a watchtower. Here we stopped to have lunch before making our way down towards our nights stay. The hike today consisted of 7.5 miles and it took us 7.5 hours. This nights stay was at a farmers house, drinking the local beer and eating the food they cooked for us. We rested after a long tiring day.

Day 4.

We woke and the farmers wife had made coffee (the first in 4 days) she brought out a huge pan and we all thought ‘no, we can’t have rice for breakfast’ but inside was porridge! you have never seen such happy people.

So setting off we walked through the village, seeing how the locals lived. Then up a steep hill to where the wall stood, here only the remains are seen.

We hiked along side the remains of this Great Wall to a monument which shows the 3 way boundary of the 3 provinces in the area.

This day we walked down the hill to another village, the mini bus picked us up and drove us to Jinshanlin where we were to spend the next 2 nights. Today’s hike 6.5 miles and 5 hours walking.

Checked in to our hotel and i found i had a room mate in the courtyard…