Guihot's in Beijing: “I WALKED THE GREAT WALL, AND ALL I (DIDN’T) GET WAS THIS DAMN T-SHIRT”

Well we could ignore it no more. The urge to climb the Great Wall had been with us since we first arrived, but a combination of busy weekends and less than appealing cold weather meant that we only really got our first chance to do so last Sunday as part of an organised hike put on by Amy's workplace (the 2nd in a series of hikes along the Great Wall). The hike planned to cover the 8 to 9km stretch between Jinshanling and Simatai along a section of the wall which is largely unrestored. There were reports that it was also climbing intensive in some sections, although reality would later show that the uphill sections tended to alternate between steep and OMFG.

This was nevertheless touted as a more family friendly affair, but with memories of the first hike still burnt into people’s memories (particularly the 900m vertical climb at the start and the understated difficulty level) quite a few from the initial jaunt decided to sit this one out. On the flipside, a few who really felt it the first time came back in the hope that they could built on their new-found leg strength for the longer term (and in the end cure themselves of the need to do further great wall hikes). I was concerned about Maddy’s ability to make it but Amy kept the faith, and even though we got some extra attention in the hike briefing about the need to “keep on going once started”, reports of other kids Maddy’s age completing this stretch were encouraging especially given Maddy’s love of climbing and her good walking record.

The view of the Great Wall, from near the top of the chairlift.

Amy and Maddy (and the cameraman) taking the opportunity to rest halfway up one of the steeper climbs.

The drive just to get out to Jinshanling was actually a bit of an epic (around 2.5hrs) so plans were to leave at 8am on the dot. When we finally arrived around 10.30am (after some seriously aggressive driving from our bus captain) Amy suggested we head directly for the rest rooms and then straight up the chairlift to the wall ASAP. This would give us a head start on the rest of the group in case Maddy took a bit of extra time. Suggested finishing times by the walk leader were anything from 3hrs to 5hrs. The fast run out of the bus gates was a good idea in the end as the toilet line had already started to grow by the time we go out. It meant we were the first in line for the chairlift, which saves you around 20min as well as a lot of energy to get up to the wall (a lot of the group took the path).

The Great Wall snaking its way into the distance.

As soon as we got to the top of the chairlift we were instantly set upon by Touts, annoying locals that follow you around offering "help" and wanting to get paid. My patience with them lasted 30min before I told them to bugger off, leaving us the rest of the trip to enjoy without having them jumping into our photo shots or having to say no to offers of Great Wall postcards.

Me - pose shot.

View of the Great Wall, looking through one of the towers.

The climbing and descending on the hike started off hard, and didn’t relent until just before we stopped for our lunch break. The section of the wall we were covering would take us through 30 towers along the way, and a few of these were so dilapidated that we were forced to come off the wall and divert around them along paths cut into the steep mountainsides. The climbing was often up very tall broken stairs, and the stairs down in similar condition with Maddy (and even me and Amy) needing to descend some of them backwards. BUT what an experience! (and also a great way to lose a few kilograms in one day). The photo opportunities were fantastic, and in many spots you could see the wall snake around and over the mountains and off into the horizon.

Today's hiking forecast - climbing followed by more climbing.

Ye, Carmel and Phil picking their way down one of the messier descents.

With Maddy, Amy and I (surprisingly) leading the group we took the opportunity to slow down a bit and joined up with another 3 people from our bus. It was decided that we would stop for a bite to eat at the last tower on this section of the wall, just before it started to drop down into the ravine. The fact that this ended up being tower 19 of the 30 meant we were over ½ way, making lunch that much sweeter. So with Maddy all carbed up on Snickers we headed off again to do the last stretch which comprised mainly of decent down dilapidating stairs. This is where Amy had most of the problems though, with the pressure hurting her knees and I was really starting to feel the blisters forming just below the surface on the skin on the feet . Maddy on the other hand got a second wind (having nearly pulled up stumps three times before lunch), and was buoyed on by the news that there was a Flying Fox at the end which you could take to descend off the wall down towards the Simatai village. She did though have reservations up until the last moment, when she finally convinced herself to do it.

Maddy leading the way. Luckily we didn't need to climb all the way to the top of the section in the background (only to the section you can see where the road traverses the mountain and intersects the wall).

In the end though it was not to be, as she was deemed to be too young by the operator. For Maddy, who was really tired by this stage, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back and she mopped all the way down the 15min descent to the village. Even so, we were able to lay claim to being the first of our group back in, which made us very proud of Maddy. With already organised plans to meet at a bar on the side of the lake we made a b-line straight for it and enjoyed a cold beer and soft drink, as well as food and coffee.

Although not very visible, the wall runs along the spine of this mountain range from left to right. Not sure why a wall was really needed here (the face of the mountain range is deterent enough).

It ends up that that the section of the wall we did was actually the same section of wall hiked by our visitors from Australia (Matt and Dave) back in January, but luckily for us it was a bit warmer. I can now see why they raved about it as it was a spectacular section of the walk to do (not that I have anything else to compare it to yet).

The only slight downside to the day was the actual cost of getting from one end of the 9km hike to the other. In a manner that only a heavily beauraucratic system can come up with, we had to pay 4 times along the way to cover the full length – once when we entered at Jinshanling, once to take the chair lift, once when we entered Simatai and once to get across the suspension bridge. Granted that the chairlift was optional and it was free to hike up, but the fee at Simatai and the suspension bridge was a “pay or go back from whence you came” affair. Those wanting to take the flying fox were hit a 5th time, and judging by the condition of the suspension bridge the fee certainly isn’t being put towards its upkeep (it had a very "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" feel about it).

Ye, Carmel, Phil and Amy on the suspension bridge marking the near-end to our hike.

There were a few positive things money-wise that were VERY surprising, with drinks sold by touts on the wall being surprisingly cheap as well as the “I climbed the wall” t-shirts. The shirts were actually WAY cheaper than the starting price at Yashow Markets just down the road from our apartment , and in some cases actually cheaper than the finishing market price (proving how much of a rip-off they are there). In the end we decided we had enough Tees in the cupboard so decided to get Maddy a medal instead (although I might head back one day and get myself a whole box of the tees – I can see a real opportunity for a stall out the front of Yashow alongside the mobile authorised Rolex dealer in the dirty jacket).