(Written late because the mobile connectivity was unstable)

Thanks brother Jon for changing month in the picture gallery!

The day started off as I feared with deep canyons. After a few kilometres the Great Wall changed direction, lining up for a different group of mountains. I was double lucky because the valleys, due to erosion, were much smaller, and there was a dirt road that followed the Great Wall closely.

After a while two donkeys came pulling two carts and their owners. We pretty much made exactly the same speed, so I had my first company along the Great Wall for a long time. But when it got a bit hilly, I passed them and went on alone. Shot a video that I will try to upload.

For the first time I have seen other people walking the Great Wall!! Unfortunately I didn’t get to speak to them. By the time we saw each other, we were on opposite sides of a valley having taken different tracks to get across it. We were heading in opposite directions. I shouted to them, and heard they were Chinese. There were five of them with rucksacks and walking sticks.Would have been so much fun to have talked with them. I could hear talking and some shouting as I went down into the valley, but I suspected it was from local people.

The mobile phone signal is strong here, but it falls out every couple of minutes. I will have to wait posting this until it is more stable, or later.

I have eaten and drunk a lot today. Slept really well last night and hope for the same now.

21 kilometres today