No internet coverage on the mobile phone. This is the report for Monday 1st of March.

I was surprised, after so much snow, to be greeted by the warm sun this morning. All I had to do was open the two tent doors and it shone straight on my face. It also started melting and later drying the ice and snow in and on my tent and sleeping bag.

When I started walking, the sun disappeared as grey clouds drew in from the  south. They have been the main ingredient of the day together with snow and a strong wind.

The Great Wall follows high ridges almost all the time here. Luckily on some parts there was a small dirt road right beside The Wall. The snow made it difficult to walk on the steep slopes and slowed me down.

It snowed for a couple of hours. In the afternoon I started scouting for inhabited houses as I was very short on water. I started talking to an older woman without startling her too much, and she invited me into her home. She kindly gave me boiling water to make some noodles I have brought along. She was not of the timid type and asked me if I wanted a smoke before she lit one up for herself. It was fun to sit on a warm Kang again.

At the end of the walking day, I was climbing a fairly steep section of the Great Wall. The visibility was really poor and snow was blowing strongly horizontally across my path. The Great Wall disappeared into thick fog. I decided this was enough for one day, and climbed back down to a place I knew I could set up the tent. It was challenging to set up in the strong wind, but the earth is still soft, so I could nail it to the ground before starting to raise it.

16 kilometres today