The Great Wall

Love the hotel we are in. True middle of the range.

Neil at thye great wall

Anyway The Great Wall......we got up early and left on a tour at 6.10am! We went to the Jinshanling and Simatai. It was soo exciting when you catch your first glimpse of the Great Wall and then you can't wait to go on it. We arrives at Jinshanling around 10.30am ish and then after a few instructions were left to our own devices. When you start walking you get a bit of a shock as the steps are incredibly steep. The good and bad thing about Jinshanling and Simatai is that a lots is original but some has been reconstructed so don't believe all the advertosements saying this part is still totally original. Having said that there is a lot crumbling away and it is an awesome experience and the views are spectacular. Although at the time I didn't appreciate it fully as I was wheezing too much! After walking along and climbing up 4 towers when a lady said there was a sortcut I hate to admit it but I jumped at the chance! Even then when we meet the wall again at Simatai we had to go up and down a bit and over a bridge and then we stopped at the end (well, not the end of the wall of course as it truly does seem to go on forever!) my legs were shaking, visibly shaking so Neil and I shared a beer and sat down and recovered for a bit. Neil feeling a bit gutted that we took the short cut decided to go up on the wall again. Its fantastic excercise!

The great wall

The great wall 2