We have had a really long and hot day today. It was 30+ C and in the sections where we walked by the desert sand dunes, it felt like we were in an oven. We just got back an hour ago.  After walking all day with too little food we have now eaten a solid dinner, and it’s time to go to bed. Will write more about the day tomorrow!

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Written the day after: We were at the starting point for the day at 10.30 and we both had 3 litres of water in our rucksacks, as we knew it was going to be a hot day. We started walking southwards to the east of Hong Shui He (The Red Water River). We found the Great Wall and it more or less skirted on the eastern edge of the river for many kilometres. In many places the river took a bend to the east and had eaten away at the Great Wall.  In a few more places we had to divert into the desert to get to the next section where The Wall was intact.

It was very hot and we noticed the difference between walking in the desert with the sand radiating heat from beneath, and in farm land. Many places, there were cultivated fields and the sand dunes abruptly stopped where the fields began. It was a strange sight and I wonder how quickly the desert can engulf a whole field. Or perhaps the desert is expanding in the opposite direction?

We stopped for a rest in a Great Wall fortress and more than half of the inside was full of fine sand. It would make for a great sandbox!

Most of the time we passed irrigation dikes where we dipped out hats in the cold water to cool down.  We took a rest a little later and cooled our feet in the clear streaming water. The lesson for the day was: Umbrellas! Yes – it probably doesn’t look very cool to walk around on a 6.000 km/4.000 mile hike with an umbrella over your head, but in 30+ C it makes a lot of sense!

At one o’clock we found some trees and had a rest and sleep. It was the hottest time of the day. Towards the end of the day, we got to a place called: Chang Cheng which means the Great Wall! We found a shop and bought some more fluids. The shop owner was a 28 year old woman who had run the shop since she was 22. When we asked why she had the shop, she was quick to tell us, with a smile, that it was to make money. Smart girl.