Monday the 24th (couldn’t access internet yesterday)

The wind was so strong today that I detoured from The Wall for 3 short sections. The wind blew me off balance several times, so I didn’t want to take any chances where a mishap could have serious consequences.

The Wall continues to be mostly a pile of rocks, but sometimes it looked more like a wall. Walking on these rocks is slow and hard work! They are fairly small, and although they have been there several hundred years, they slide easily – especially where it is steep. My average speed while walking was only 3 km per hour today due to the rocks, thick bushes next to The Wall and wind.

Lot of sun today, so the wind was great to cool me down.

At the highest elevation of the day, I came to a large mobile communications centre overlooking Zhangjiakou. I approached the building and saw a guy inside. He opened a window, and I asked if he had any boiling water. He gave me some, and I sat down to rest in the sun, but out of the wind.

Soon more men started showing up one after one asking who I was and what I was doing. I answered as well as I could. Then the boss came with a warm meal and lots of rice. I was very grateful, thanked him and started eating while talking to them. It was the social highlight of the day!! Come to think of it, it was the only social event of the whole day.

16 kilometres today