27th April.
As we were staying at our mountain hotel for two nights we didn't have to pack up our bags, which was a luxury to me, as the whole packing my bag up every day was as big a challenge as the trek itself! Our bus took us on a 20 minute drive; we had to get a key to open the gate for the bus to drive through! We started our walk outside the village of Gubeiko, walking along farmland until our path took us alongside the unrestored, yet well-preserved section of the Great Wall.
This part appeared to be almost brick-like and dates back to Qing Dynasty times, the last dynasty to rule over this vast land. We followed a track down into the valley in order to skirt past a Chinese military post and followed dirt paths through trees and undergrowth before rejoining the Great Wall. We negotiated some very steep sections, scrambling on all-fours in some cases, some of the downs were worse than the ups, but we all helped each other along and eventually passed through 22 Watch Towers.
The day was charged with high emotions from the sharing of our stories as we walked, the beauty of the views, the stillness and thinking time it gave us and the care and pride we gave each other in reaching our destination of 18 miles (26,000 steps). Some of the locals turned out to see us and walked along the Great Wall with us, showing us the best paths to use and chatting to us as we went.
When we got to the final Watch Tower, the locals who had walked with us produced souvenirs from their rucksacks for us to buy from them! We walked back to our mountain hotel and browsed in the local shops and bought wonderful paper cutting pictures that is a Chinese craft handed down from generation to generation.
