Final trekking day ready for the off? Just 20 towers to go!!! Will they still be smiling?!!

 

A perfect start to the day with a lovely misty dawn and the temperature set to soar once the sun had burnt it off, a gruelling trek ahead of us including the infamous 'Heaven Steps'!!!

 
 

 
And this is what we were up against!! Miles and miles more wall, hundreds, no thousands of steps, some reasonably even, others very derelict and anything but even!!!!
 
 
 
 

The towers were mostly ruins or part ruined and very occasionally restored. The wall was actually never effective as a fortress against the enemy and new bits were constantly being added as the boundaries between the Provinces changed.
 
Parts of the wall have been restored over the centuries with bricks being used to build over the old stone parts. There are many bits being restore at the present time as well as more and more tourists flock to see it.
 

It was incredible to think of the building of these structures and the sheer volume of materials and the man-power, thousands upon thousands of people died during it's construction.
 

And there it was the 'Heaven Steps' 94 uneven, broken, steep, exhausting steps. When you've already walked, climbed and scrambled for several hours this was not a welcome sight!!! It was about tower 17 if I remember correctly.

Then half way up looking back down!! The heat by then was sweltering and no shade anywhere.

 Our final descent from the wall, one final look back at an amazing construction, an incredible feat of engineering by man with no machinery, just sheer hard graft by thousands, maybe millions of men who blindly did what they were told.

 
Celebration time!! The finish line!!! and it's all soooo surreal I can't even remember what we did the day before. But what an amazing experience, all the aches and pains pail into insignificance by the wonder of it all. I met some amazing people too, many who had themselves beaten Cancer, some still fighting and many others doing it for someone they know or have known.

Finally our home for the next few days. Relative luxury in comparison to the previous nights (although the bed was no softer so still had a bad back). A foot massage booked!! can't wait, Ahhhhh heaven!

 

 Days 3 and 4 and even more challenging terrain ahead!

Well we survived days 1 & 2 and after an uncomfortable night sleeping on a board with a very thin mattress and a rice filled pillow I got up feeling extremely stiff and uncomfortable!! But after some very nice porridge and a couple of painkillers I was ready to take on The Wall again.

After a steep climb up over more very rough ground the first part of the wall was mainly ruins and the paths very narrow to the side of it.

 Miles and miles of ruined wall as far as the eye could see, it was also extremely hot, I was drinking 3 litres of water a day and sweating buckets, I think for every litre I drank I must have sweated 2 litres!!!
 

The views were incredible layer upon layer of green mountains stretching away into the distance, it was also a bit hazy so they took on a very mystical quality.

The stone in the picture below
marks where 3 Provinces meet, the wall in the picture to the left is where we've come from and on the right in the photo behind me is the renovated wall and the direction we are heading in, although it looks nice a smooth it was still not possible to walk actually on the wall as some of it was very steep and just sloping with no steps so we had to stay to the side.

A welcome break in the shade!!

And just in case we thought the walking wasn't exercise enough there was some outdoor gym equipment to stretch our muscles a bit more!!!

 

Finally civilisation...... by the way all those empty beer bottles weren't ours!

 

 

 

Warming up ready for another days hard slog!

Running repairs on Sara's shorts. The kit list said Duct Tape you never know what it might be useful for!

The locals are keeping an eye on us.




And there it was again the wall stretching out in front of us disappearing over the horizon!








And just for a change more steps!!!!!!!

 And more towers!!!!

Very narrow paths in places with sheer drops either side, steps so worn you could hardly tell the difference between them and the rocks next to them.

Leon one of our 'leaders' setting a very bad example, there was a sheer drop the other side of that window.

 This was really hard going and there are no shortcuts. Thankfully some of the time we were in the shade.

 
 Although the wall looks reasonably sound here we weren't able to wall on it and the crack in the tower is an indication why.

 This part was very narrow in places and obviously in a very bad state of repair the steps were particularly bad and it needed all our concentration to make sure we didn't slip.

These are all different towers although they all look the same. It was a little bit more hazy so thankfully not quite so hot some of the day at least.

Oh dear the Paparazzi have caught up with me again!! Hopefully it means we're nearing civilization but I think there's still a long way to go.

 

 If I see another step I think I'll scream!!! Finally the last tower of the day what a lovely sight. Only problem is accommodation is still a further mile away.

 

 

Day 2-The really testing stuff begins!

These steps were particularly tiring as they were sometimes very large then followed by some that were very shallow, zig-zagging did make it a little easier!


The steps slowly got narrower and less and less uniform until they were made of rough stone rather than bricks, handrail was a very welcome addition and the woods some very welcome shade! After climbing for about an hour and a half the path finally started to even out a bit!!

Only problem was it was also very narrow with sheer drops on both sides in places and it was just rough dirt and grit so potentially quite slippery.

Much of the wall here was completely derelict so we had to walk on very rough dirt paths next to it. There had been rain for the 4 weeks running up to our Trek so in places the path had been partly washed away making it even narrower and more dangerous.

 

Half way up a mountain in the middle of nowhere and there's a Road Sign!!! showing what looks like a warning you might see on a Dockside! there was no certainly water and definitely no quay!!!!

There was a Portaloo thankfully which made a change from squatting behind a tree!! and a kiosk, the area was being made ready for a tourist stop.

We also came across a parking space which is a bit odd when there is very little sign of a road!

ONLY IN CHINA!!

 

 I think my fellow trekkers found it quite amusing too! 
And the going got tougher and tougher, the downhill equally as challenging as the up hill. Had to watch every step as the loose stones and gravel were very slippery. Went down on my bum twice but not too hard thankfully.

When we finally got to the bottom we had another couple of hours to get to our lodgings!! But it was an opportunity to enjoy some of the countryside.

Finally our lodgings for the night, a very welcome sight, the chance for a cool shower and a nice cold beer. AHHH  BLISS