I’m lying on the Kang (warmed up bed) of an older couple now. They run the only shop in the village. Have not been able to send off a point for the Great Wall Route for today, but will tomorrow morning.

It has been hard walking today. Trying to figure out a way through the maze of small valleys. Many of them were not deeper than 4-5 metres, but that’s more than enough if you can’t find a safe way down or up the other side.

The sleeping bag worked well tonight, but because it was about zero degrees when I woke, and no wind through the night, the inner tent was wet so the foot end of the sleeping bag was also slightly wet. I opened the tent doors and managed to dry the tent a bit before starting the walk.

Before it got dark I got down to a valley and asked my way to a small shop were I am now. The son and grandson are visiting from Shenmu. The grandson can speak some English which meant that with English and Chinese we managed to communicate pretty well. He told me that today only 25 people live here, while ten years ago this was a busy place. Things change quickly in China. He works as a chef at a hotel in Shenmu and likes to surf the net till three in the morning and play Counter Strike.

After speaking to the people in the shop for a while, they offered me to spend the night here which was very nice of them. Tomorrow morning I can get an early start and stock up on goods from the shop. That’s unless I want to stay and watch them slaughter the big pigs they are slaughtering tomorrow…

22 kilometres today