After eating leftovers from dinner yesterday, I got back to the Great Wall by foot and paying a guy on a motorbike 10 RMB.

Today’s walk was enjoyable with a great view the whole time. Not so difficult as the Great Wall usually follows the high ridges of the terrain. The Wall had more cultivated areas around it today. Not so many thorns and bushes.

It rained four times. Twice I sat under the umbrella, and twice just walked on enjoying the cooling effect. I really love the terrain here. It is hilly, but soft.

If you look at the Great Wall Route, you will see that I have not followed the Planned route today (Green line). No worries though – I decided to follow the inner loop over the next section. It was fascinating to see where the outer loop wall suddenly shot out to the North. I can see it in the distance from where I am writing this.

I decided not to descend these mountains today. Instead I spent time finding a great camp site, and have relaxed, studied the map, stretched my legs and taken pictures.

My knees are still a concern, and yesterday the back of the left one was over-stretched when a rock on The Wall slipped. Have used a knee support for it today, and will let it rest before the last descent tomorrow. As long as alternating knees hurt every day, I’m OK 🙂

Just before I started putting up the tent, a herder came over the horizon asking if I had seen any cows lately. I hadn’t. We sat down and talked. He comes from a village close by and spends 3-4 days up here at a time. His pack was very small so I asked what he does if it starts raining. Then I go back to my village he answered with a smile. I gave him an Ice Tea as I have more than enough until tomorrow. As he set off to look for his herd, his mobile phone rang. It was his wife.

As he left, I sat thinking about how big a change that little phone has made to his life alone up here in the mountains. Mine too.

16 kilometres today