The Great Wall of China

Its hard to go to China without thinking of at least visiting, if not walking along some part of the Great Wall. Driving out from Beijing there are apparently a few typical backpacker tour trips, and the seem (from speaking to some fellow travellers) follow more or less the same directions, if you take ours the first glimpse of the wall you'll see from the window of the minibus is this one.

first glimpse of the wall We were there in December, so winter makes the area appear barren and harsh, something I'm sure that was an advantage in its defence.

The Wall was constructed first and foremost as a military defence, and they certainly picked good steep terrain, and put the wall along the tops of the highest ridges. I certainly would not want to be mounting an attack up these hills

side on

That its on hills should not be lost on people wanting to go on "walk the wall" trips, as it can be quite a steep walk. As you can see in the picture below its bloody steep. While they say that you will be walking 10Km, I'm not so sure that it is actually that far, it is definately "dooable" in the time they allocate (including having an hour or two held up in traffic) as long as you are not really unfit and you take your time.

steep stairs abound

Many parts of the walk are quite steep and in quite long sections too.

its hard going

when your standing here looking towards the top, you might wonder just what you've gotten yourself in for... but if you look at the people infront of me here you can see that they're not "rugged outdoor types", so if you think you can

but don't despair

then you probably can ...
You might have noticed how there was no 'side rail' in the above shot. Well that's because much of the wall is now falling into disrepair. Aside from being tragic, it makes walking difficult. I would be VERY cautious of walking this in the rain!

Aside from the missing rails there are quite a many step rocks missing from the walk too, making downhills tricky and perhaps dangerous, so please don't test your travel insurance.

watch your step

The general state of disrepair is sad, but does add to the feeling that you're in an ancient human construction, not Disneyland. So remember, if your concerned about heights, perhaps this isn't the trip for you.

more so when there no handrail and quite a drop!

I personally found it an appealing and amazingly inspiring place.

ancient offices

With views like this, I wonder if it made being a guard on the wall any easier to take...

beautiful views

had enough?
see more of the Wall