It was so warm last night that I kicked off my socks inside the sleeping bag. This morning I packed almost everything into the rucksack including the sleeping bag that goes at the bottom. Then I was ready to put on my socks, but couldn’t find them… Luckily I had an extra pair that were fairly easy to get to.

I slipped, going down one of the gullies. The ground had small rocks and dry earth on top. Luckily I had both walking sticks securely in the ground. I slid slowly downwards after having lost balance. It didn’t take long before the walking sticks took the load and stopped me. If one of them had also loosened I would have fallen 3-4 metres to the ground beneath.

Todays walk has brought me to the foot of some mountains the Great Wall goes through. The wind has been very strong, but has come from behind. It is strong enough to make me lose my balance. I really hope it dies down tomorrow as I don’t like dancing ballet on top of the Great Wall with a strong wind.

I bought 4 litres of bottled green tea and had a litre of Ice tea left, so I shouldn’t be thirsty going through the mountains tomorrow.

In only a few weeks, the days and nights will be warm enough so that I can shed a lot of equipment. That should make the mountain stretches that are coming up, easier to climb although I will have to start carrying more supplies.

It is blowing hard outside now. Just as I started setting up the tent, I saw a grey wall of dust coming towards me. Have fastened the tent very well. If it blows this hard tomorrow I may postpone walking.

21 kilometres today