I got up about seven o’clock this morning ready to beat the heat with a fairly early start. In Inner Mongolia, this would have been early enough to escape the high temperature, but here in Ningxia, there was no hope. I went to the airport north of Zhongwei and found a very large beacon tower by a Great Wall fortress. It took a bit of dodging and walking around fences to get to it. The beacon tower must be the second biggest one I’ve seen so far and there was a metal stair-like installation so one could walk to the top of it. I did and enjoyed the sight for a while.
But there was a problem. It was before nine o’clock, and I was already sweating incredibly hard. It was dripping from my face and into my eyes. It was humid too. I shook my head and thought – I can’t do this. If I’m sweating this much before nine o’clock, then this day is going to be absolute murder. After letting the heartbeat slow down a bit, I started walking and luckily the Great Wall went along a quiet road for the first stretch.
After a while, the wind picked up a little and this made the walking (and sweating) better. Soon, I was off-road trying to follow the Great Wall as closely as possible. In this area the Tengger desert reaches the Great Wall and sometimes swallows it completely. I walked past a small brick factory. I have wanted to see how the bricks are made from start to finish, but the actual stove wasn’t lit, so I’ll leave it for another day.
Towards the end of the day, it became very windy and I could see dark clouds gathering behind me. After a while the air was filled with sand. People were hurrying home, or at least taking shelter. Even the dogs understood something was about to happen, as they didn’t bark at me when I walked past.
I called it quits after a little less than 20 kilometres. I was really exhausted as the heat on the first half of the trip had taken a lot of energy from me. The biggest problem with the heat is that not only does it drain energy, but it also drains me mentally. I’m not used to this intense heat and walking around in it doesn’t make that much sense. Will try for a much earlier start tomorrow.
It is raining now.
Yeah, the Chinese summer heat is really no place for a Scandinavian. I just walked a few km on the Hebei GW last weekend and I felt really uncomfortable in the heat and humidity. Hopefully you will have better luck with an early start.
Wow – I can imagine Hebei is really hot and humid right now. Hope it cools down soon so you can continue with your walks. Would be great to meet up in the Hebei region!