The Great Wall of China

How many photos can one person take of a single structure? In the case of the Great Wall of China and me, many indeed! I had to stuff my camera into my bag after a while so that I could focus on the hike and the landscape around me. Only to pull it out again two minutes later. That really added on a lot of extra time to my hike.

For a wall, it is pretty darn impressive. I couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness though. Hundreds, perhaps more, people died building it and are buried in it, it is said; the Great Wall and the longest graveyard in the World. And for what? To protect a kingdom from invading forces. It didn't. The Kingdom was invaded. Twice, I believe. But it is said that the Wall* did protect the people from Mongol raiders which were said to have taken property and women. But well, whatever purpose the Wall did or did not serve, and whatever I may or may not want to say about any of it, it was build and there is stands. The Lonely Planet I have states that a survey puts the length of the entire Wall which ever stood, including all the section which no longer stand and run parallel to each other at 21,119km. 21 thousand kilometres! It's amazing that such a structure was built hundreds of years ago. Even which the technology and machinery we have today, it would be a monumental project to try to build a stone structure through forest and mountains across that distance. But for the fact that people were conscripted into it's construction and died for it, it is quite an awesome achievement. 

We drove out from Beijing to the Mùtiányù section of the Wall. It was about a two hour drive. It had been renovated since of course, but this section of the Wall dates back to 1368. It's easily accessible from Beijing, but not as accessible as Badaling section and therefore, by all accounts, much more bearable. As it was, there were quite a lot of tourists but not too many. A cable car takes us up close to the Wall; a few short flights of stairs up to the Wall itself. Caroline and Til were along for a bit of it, but we had to walk up from the carpark to the cable car station which was really not far but felt much more because it was all uphill and quite a steep one at that. Til's little legs much have been exhausted. By the time we actually got to the Wall, he just wanted to be carried and it would have been too much for Caroline to carry him and their stuff, so they turned back. It was a shame really. But I suppose that is the price of parenthood. Your lives are never the same again. There's a lot which you cannot to with a young child. Not to say that any one life is better than the other, though. It is really a matter of how you choose to live your life really. At times, I look at my growing number of friends with young children and wish that I had what they have. But other times, I don't. If I had children, I would never have been free to take his trip with Caroline. Similarly, I was free to hike the Wall as I wished. 

Tip of the ox's hoof just visible at the top

It was over 30 degrees Celcius and sunny and were exhausted from the heat by the time we reached the Wall. But it was the only day I had at the Wall and I was going to make the most of it. The guide had explained a bit about the Wall before we set off and our target had been (before Caroline turned back, with Til and the guide) to get to the tower just before the steepest part, known as the tip of the ox's hoof, and then decide if we wanted to carry on. I wanted to carry on. I knew that much already. My target to climb the ox's hoof, time allowing of course. We agreed to meet up in between one to one and a half hours, so I was on a clock. There were some parts of the Wall which were easier than others but the whole of it was really slopes and stairs the whole time. Some steps were barely two inches high which was annoying to walk, but which I did appreciate because taking those steps one at a time made me keep to a slow manageable pace. 

The ox's hoof was an entirely different story. That part was just steep and upwards and seemingly never ending. I had to take breaks to catch my breath. I had, of course, forgotten my inhaler and did not want to trigger an asthma attack. I also has to stop to rest my burning muscles. Basically, I just needed to rest. Every time I stopped though, I could not help but feel the weight of the nothingness behind me. Each step was at least a foot high and not really wide enough to step my whole foot on. So I had to climb without my heel touching the steps or with my feet slightly angled. Neither of which felt more secure than the other in the steepness. I did not care to turn around or look down.I got to the tower at the top of the ox's hoof and then one more before turning around and heading back. I had already gone beyond the "tourist section" where a signed kindly asked me not to pass. I did, oops. There were a few people walking there and even a drinks seller beyond that point who had miniature flags of the country I was in, the county I am from and the country I live it. So, I had to do the tourist thing and have a picture taken holding all three flags. Oh, and I am somewhat sorry to say that I also bought the t-shirt. Not up there though. I got one when I got back down from the mountain.

Heading back the way I came

Going back took much less time, mostly because there were far less photo stops and I didn't climb up any of the towers this time around. I found the others and we headed back down the hill in the actual cable car in which Bill Clinton rode when he visited the Wall on the 28th June 1998. We had lunch where Til demonstrated a taste for green paprikas and surprise, surprise Coca Cola. It came with our meal and he wanted some and would not take no for an answer, and disappointing a child in a busy restaurant is not what you want. Til's little legs were definitely exhausted. I hope he doesn't have any muscle pain tomorrow. He crawled down off the seat to the legroom in the car at some point and appeared to be struggling to straighten his legs again. But then, possibly driven by the attention he got through our amusement, he repeated the whole process of crawling down and struggling to stand over and over again. He's in for a surprise when he gets to Sweden and the world of baby car seats. 

My knee now hurts, and I worry that it probably will tomorrow as well, but it was with it. I would definitely be keen to visit the Great Wall again. Though any next time would not, if I can help it, be in the 30 degree heat. I drank 1.5 litres of water in one and a half hours today and poured some on my head. Late October, I am told, would be much nicer: cooler and less busy. And perhaps the more remote sections of the Wall as well. 

*Does the capitalising of 'Wall' remind people of anything else? 

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