The Great Wall of China

Day 1

Everyone has arrived safely in Beijing.  In fact they arrived half an hour early which is unheard of!  It has been absolutely pouring with rain since we arrived but tomorrow it should be very hot for our first day on the wall.  We are staying in a lodge on the outskirts of Beijing and it has a swimming pool!  So most of us have taken a dip although the hotel insist that everyone wear swimming hats - very attractive!  We feasted on a huge buffet this evening and are all going  to bed early in preparation for our trek tomorrow.

Day 2

This was our first day trekking so everyone was very excited.  We touched the wall for the first time and according to the Chinese this makes us all heroes!  It was sunny and humid as we walked along the wall past 24 watch towers.  Some parts were relatively flat but there were some very steep bits to the wall as well and lots of steps to climb!  Some people climbed up some further 'oh my god!' steps after lunch and were rewarded by a beautiful view.  The scenery was spectacular along the restored part of the wall.  To come down off the wall everyone took a toboggan ride down the side of a mountain.  It was great fun and Charlyne, Ricky, Cathy, Jane, Laraine and Kate even climbed back up to do it again!  We had a look round a local market after our trek and Peggy bought a fur hat, probably the only non-Chinese item in the market!  Looked very funny!Everyone has done really well today and we are now relaxing back at our traditional lodge hotel.  It is lovely and has a courtyard in the middle with a little river and bridge.  They have been playing Beatles songs constantly, very bizarre!Tomorrow we are off to Black Dragon Paw Park where we will be walking between 2 reserves on old farmers trails.  

Messages from the group

Hi Myc, 
It's Mum, just done touristy parts of the wall, amazing how good I feel - I even did the 'oh my god' steps.  Very vertical, very knackering and a toboggan run - Cool Runnings or what! 
Love Mum
Cathy

Hi Becky
Ricky

Hi Everybody
It's fantastic out here.  It was hard work today after such a long flight but coped really well.  Great pics.  I am missing you all, can't ring as no phones.  (Damien I love you)
Charlyne

Hi Everyone
Today we became heroes apparently by walking the wall!  The views were fantastic.  Hope photos come out ok!  First day so far so good.  Knees standing up at mo, so far so good.
Alison

Had to drink beer last night - there is red wine tonight - I'm in heaven!  Henry and Elliott - Mummy is having lots of fun and thinking of you all the time.  Big hug to you and Daddy.
Nadia

Hi David, Matty and Peanut
End of first day, feet aching, knees aching, hips aching but still alive!  Scenery specatcular.  Took taboggan down from wall - brilliant!  Going to Black Dragon Paw tomorrow - very steep apparently!  Looking foraward to it.
Love you all madly xxxx
Treasa

Hi Hellie
THis is just wow!  Don't worry i'll be careful.  See you soon.

 

Day 3

 Today we had a really early start and needed to pack all our belongings as were leaving the hotel.  We had a big Chinese breakfast which was a great way to start the day!  We left in a coach and came to the site where we would start the walk and were assured there would be toilets.  The toilets, however, were in the car park with no walls and for a minute we all thought we were meant to go in full view of everyone until we realised that the car park was under construction and the toilets hadn't been fully built yet!  In the car park Margaret led the warm up.   Then we had to walk through lots of scrub and then scramble up a massive hill to get to the wall.  Everyone was on their hands and knees but we all helped each other and all reached the top.  There was an amazing view at the top - we were surrounded by huge cliffs and a big ravine.  We climbed down to the pool at the bottom where we got in rubber rings and paddled with wooden spoons towards a beautiful waterfall.   Laraine was overcharged on the tyre ride and proved she was no push over by demanding her money back, which she got!  We walked out of the park still surrounded by stunning scenery and at the end all had a much needed magnum ice cream!  

We were staying in Longevity Palace Guest House which is where the Roal Family used to stay on thier trips to the countryside.  It was a very traditional lodge.  With dinner we all had a well deserved shot of Baijiu - Traditional chinese rice liquor!

Day 4

This has been the toughest day so far but the most beautiful.  Before we set off Laraine led the warm up in the courtyard of the lodge.  This was our first encounter with the wall catchers - these are Chinese farmers who you pay to carry your bags on the wall.  We had to literally baracade the gates to the hotel while we did the warm up to stop them coming in! 

Some of the group did have wall catchers - one of whom looked like Tina Turner!  Sinead's wall catcher was in full combat gear which was a little scary at first but he was great.  So everyone had their husbands for the day!  We started the walk through farmers fields and as we walked people were fanned by their wall catchers!  It was predicted to be heavy rain but the sun shone all day - a good omen for the trip!  We walked along the unrestored section of the wall.  There were some very narrow parts to it with drops either side but everyone did really well and overcame their vertigo.  Cathy was particularly brave as she has very bad vertigo but made it across all the narrow sections.  We were in the miltary zone as well today and there was strictly no photos to be taken so everyone hid their camaras in their bags!   We climbed off the wall for lunch and had it in a farmers field.  After lunch we had a huge climb back onto the wall which took one and a half hours!  Once we reached the top it was completely deserted except for one man who was selling ice creams and cold drinks out of a cooler box!  Amazing!  We walked for quite a while along steep ups and downs.  We climbed up a tower and had amazing 360 degree views of the whole wall!  From the top we also saw the route we would take tomorrow. 

Back in the lodge we had rock hard sleeping platforms to sleep on with paper thin mats - not what you need after a hard days trekking!  We all drank Baijiu again to help us to sleep of course!  One of the guides, Roger gave us all a cultural talk and Amber taught us how tio sign our names and we all thought up sign names for ourselves which we now have to use for the whole trip.    Everyone is very tired and it is only going to get worse!  We trek by 28 towers tomorrow and up some more 'oh my god' steps!

Messages from the group

Hi Sweetheart,
All is well - as bad as Peru but so far so good!  Give a big kiss to the 4 wee ones.  Love you
Sinead

Aching all over but having a great time.  Very challenging and mobile phone broken.  Love to all
Nadia 

Day 5

Today was absolutely beautiful.  We started where we finished from yesterday and headed from Jinshanling to Simatai along the wild unrestored part of the wall.  Everyone got wall catchers today.  They were much better behaved as they had a numbering system so there was not so much of a scrum.  We walked up and down 14 towers.  We started off with a steep climb and the wall got more wild as the day went on.  There was a splattering of rain today and a mist hung over the surrounding mountains making it very atmospheric.  We had lunch at the top of a tall tower.  We went up some more oh my god steps and Ricky ran up them in 29 seconds, the world record is 25 seconds! 

As we walked we could see the wall stretching out in front of us and we could see the heavenly ladder in the distance rising up at a 45 degree angle.  The wall undulates like a dragon and is called crouching tiger hidden dragon.  We came down into the Simoli valley over a suspension bridge.  Cathy and Liz were fantastic and overcame their fear of heights to walk across it. 

Everyone then caught a zip line down over the water to the bottom.  Charlyne was shaking with fear but she still did it and so a big congratulations to her.  Cathy and Liz also went down and Liz screamed 'I don't like this!' the whole way down!  Everyone did really well!

We then took a boat across the lake to our hotel. Everyone is having an early night tonight as we have a 4:30am wake up call.  Tmoorrow we have to walk up 1400 steps climbing 1000m before sunrise!

Messages from the group

Hi Sweetheart,
All is going very well - the thought of Beijing is keeping me going.  Love you all and see you soon.
Sinead

Hi Myc
Day 4 better than expected!  Looking forward to relaxing and sightseeing in Beijing.
Cathy

Hi Everyone
What an amazing experience this has been, and a really super team to take us all through.
Margaret Snell

Hi Hellie
What a fantastic day!  I've done some things I never thought I'd do!  Tell you more soon.
Lots of love mum
Maggie

Day 6

Today we climbed the heavenly ladder which was the hardest climb of the trip.   We got up at 4am and left at 4:30am in the dark!   We walked along 12 towers up to the heavenly ladder.  The first 7 towers were very steep but after that it leveled off and the path became narrower and narrower.  The highest point was 1000m high and we had to climb 1400 steps.  Only 8 people made it to the very top and were rewarded with a beautiful sunrise.  You could look back and see where we had climbed which made the moment all the more poignant.   There was even a man at the top selling coffee!  We then walked back down triumphantly singing 'You will never walk alone!'.  We had a group photo at the finish line.  We did a conga over the bridge to the finish line and there were flags at either end and fire crackers and we all had champagne in celebration. 
We then took the bus to Beijing which took about 3 hours.  We passed the Olympic site and saw the Birds Nest stadium and the Olympic village which architecturally was amazing.  We had lunch at a very traditional restaurant where all the waitresses were in traditional dress.  After lunch we went to a silk factory and were told how the silk was made and shown the silk pods and silk worms.  People bought silk bed sheets which in London would sell for about £300 but here were only £30!  Others had clothes tailor made and some bought silk boxers for the men in their lives! 

We then visited Beijing's second school for the deaf.  This was a very moving experience, we met the children there and they put on a performance for us involving singing and dancing.  They even did a magic show and Treasa, Sinead and Amber helped them with this.  This was a brilliant finish to the trip and made it all seem incredibly worthwhile.  After dinner we had a foot massage.  The masseurs also did reflexology and identified other problems people were having so in effect people had a full medical as well as a massage!

Day 7

The group all went to the Forbidden City today and also on a ricksaw ride through the Hutongs (the old area of Beijing). Everyone loved the experience of seeing old China and we had the best food of the week there in a restaurant where there was a man who bred crickets for fighting! Later on in the day most of us went to the Silk market where we all bought so much stuff that we had to buy extra bags to take it all home!

In the evening we had our gala dinner and everyone was presented an award. Anne presented the tip to our ground handlers, Amazing and Nadia and Maggie each talked to the group about their own experience of NDCs helping them. Then it was off to the karaoke bar for the night!

Day 8

It's our last day in China today and we've made the most of it by going to the Summer Palace and getting in some last minute shopping at Yia Xiu market. And now we're off to see an acrobatic show before getting on the plane home! See you soon!