A Great Wall

So sorry to dash all your dreams but we can't actually see the Great Wall from space but this fact does little to take your breath away when it comes in to view towering above you snaking its way across the mountains. Although not a continuous structure, as it was built in different sections during different dynasties in China, it runs for over 8,800km north of the city of Beijing. Built to protect China against the might of the Mongolian horsemen it now symbolises the wonder of a civilisation that has existed for thousands and thousands of years.
My initial visit to China was during a time of adolescent immaturity and naivety, and this led to a visit of the section of the wall at a place called Badaling. Here the area comes fully equipped with a KFC and lots of souvenir shops! This is perfect for the tourist with a tight schedule and lots to see, but anyone with a thirst for beauty and a recommendation of a tourist group that will lead you off the tourist trap needs to take advantage of it. Tony runs his own tourist business and the driving motto is sustainability and preservation. After guiding us through the old streets of Beijing he was now going to lead us up to what felt like the top of the world.

Very stylish as we set out but I was very grateful for this hat later

We left Beijing at 8 and travelled the 2 hours to the beginning of the hike, which was a section of the wall open to the public but little known by tourists. The sun was blazing down and the sky was a clear blue - the perfect day for a hike. We made our way gradually up the side of the hills gazing up as our destination got ever closer. Half way up we stopped in a cave where the inside temperature was about 15 degrees lower than outside - the perfect natural fridge! The view across the rolling hill was breathtaking and looked like it had not changed in centuries as noting broke the ever extending greenery.

Rolling hills on all sides as we climbed

We reached an entry door for the wall and climbed up onto the watchtower to gaze across the vastness and beauty of the wall and the countryside around it. A well deserved packed lunch was enjoyed enjoying the cool air and immense magnificence of what we were seeing.

Entering onto wall


The intensity of beauty

But there was more to see and more ground to cover and so we started out walk along the wall covering a distance of 4km along the wall, and it just kept on going and going! In one of the watchtowers Tony showed us a stone that had a story inscribed on it that dated from the 1600s and told of a soldier coming to the wall to give a message to the soldiers on watch duty there from the Forbidden City. History was alive and standing in a watchtower for the near future as it was far too heavy to move. We descended from the wall at another door and made our way slowly down towards the meeting point for the bus. In all that day we covered 8km but it felt like walking on the footsteps of thousands of years.

We all climbed the wall together

The magnitude of this experience is not easy to put into words but must experienced for oneself, but my eternal gratitude goes to Tony and Charlene for sharing this expereince with us.