Yesterday I took the bus back to where we left off the day before. My brother stayed in Zhangye to rest his feet and make the final adjustments to the ‘fine mechanics’ behind the picture gallery.

I went hunting for The Wall after a tip from Andreas of the Great Wall Forum. I found what could have been a small fortress and a wall following the rim of the mountainous terrain before disappearing in a valley.

I walked on through the valley and climbed to a watchtower that had several small mounds like here. The mounds however were too old to determine whether they were old stoves or burial sites. The soil in the area seemed to be full of minerals. Some places the rust poured out of the soil.

Later on I followed the road and then soon followed the river, which was great. The cars and lorries were replaced with shepherds and their sheep. A good swap.

To the north watchtowers were scattered along the ridge of the mountains, but no Great Wall. The landscape was amazing. Wild jagged hills that seemed impossible to lead an army through.

I decided to cross a dike at one place to get closer to some big storks on the other side of the river. I took off my shoes and started to wade over the river. Close to the other side I noticed the carcass of a dead hen lying in the water close to my feet. I quickly got to the other side, went upstream and tried to wash my feet where the blisters are still open. Anyway – I got some pretty good pictures of the storks in flight…