Slept really well in the tent tonight because the wind made it cool. I thought I should check the statement of the women yesterday, so when I lifted the groundsheet of the tent, I looked for scorpions. I saw three!! One of them stopped moving, but two of them headed my way with their stinging tails raised for attack!

I didn’t want them anywhere near my rucksack and stamped my feet to discourage them from moving closer. They didn’t even twitch and came straight at me. So – I tried to kick sand on them. They stopped for a few seconds. When they went on charging, I had to stamp them. Not a nice feeling.  They are very robust so I had to twist and turn my foot to stop them…

Walking down to the fortress, I thought how much fun it would be to show the women the picture of the scorpions they proclaimed did not live in the desert. Then I saw something moving close by. It was a sizeable snake that headed for some scrubs. I went a bit closer to see if I could get a picture, and it suddenly struck at my walking stick! I was quite shocked that it was so aggressive and also that I could feel the vibrations of the strike in my hand.

Deciding this had been enough excitement for one morning, I walked to the fortress and showed pictures of the snake and scorpions.

After noon, dark clouds swept in from the North. Soon it was raining lightly and I walked with my umbrella. Since it is still warm, using an umbrella is great for rain. It keeps your upper body dry whilst you still have good ventilation. After an hour in the rain, it started raining heavily and the wind got stronger. I got several offers, from kind passersby, of a lift to Yinchuan, but refused as I wanted to reach my goal for the day. I was pretty drenched by the time I got there, but very very happy that I had now completed the Ningxia outer loop of the Great Wall.

22 kilometres today