Do you know it’s a myth that the Wall can be seen from space? Well, not with the naked eye it can’t, you need a telescope but does that matter, it’s a great legend. When you drive from Beijing along the new motorway (once you’ve emerged out of the smog) you can see snatched, tantalising glimpses of derelict walls, tall ramparts, even higher watch towers and beacon towers all along the tops of the hills for as far as the eye can see.
The first record of it being built is in 770 BC by the Qi dynasty and since then various dynasties like the Qin, Han, Ming and Quing have added to it. Each part has been built from different products but basically the same, layer upon layer of different grades of rocks and stones cemented with mortar of lime and glutinous rice.
It took an archaeological survey team more than five years to measure the total length of the wall, they declared in 2012, that it is 13,170.69 miles (21,196.18 kilometers) long. We walked for about 1/2 a mile.
We went to an area called Jingshanling (click on this link to find out more about Jingshanling), it’s about 96 miles from Beijing and takes about 2-3 hrs in the car but it’s worth it. The main place that tourists go to is called Badaling which was the first part to be restored in 1957 but it’s crazy there with, in the high season, almost 70,000 visitors a day. We met someone who had been there and they said it was bedlam, took them 1/2 hour just to get past the souvenir stalls and when the got onto the wall they had to fight for space to take photos. Our tour operator (Audley Travel) had warned us about Badaling and suggested it was worth the extra time to travel to Jinshanling as they couldn’t guarantee we’d be the only people but it would be highly likely. And indeed they were spot on.
Of course you have the climb the steep hill before you start the even steeper, uneven stone steps (that penny didn’t drop until I got there and looked up!)
Although it was quiet there were still locals who wanted help us, carry our bags, take a photo and sell you something, all at a ‘good price’. We managed to avoid them by agreeing to buy something from them when we came back down. That was a stoke of genius.
When we got to the first Watch Tower, which was at Zhuanduo Pass, the view was stunning.
All we could hear was the wind in our faces and the birds chirping (and our furiously beating hearts and the air painfully, wheezing out of our lungs)
Once we’d gotten our breath back we carried on up the steps (yes, more of them!) they are all uneven and at different heights. Should we go east or west? Either way was magnificent.
The only other person there was a local guy selling water. He wasn’t doing a very good trade that day! (you can just see his yellow t-shirt in this photo)
I’m running out of superlatives to try to describe just how wonderful it was on the top of that wall, I couldn’t help but wonder how many soldiers had looked out at that view, how many generations of people had clambered up those steep steps? I’m not sure why I was so enthralled with the Great Wall, I’ve seen other equally inspiring man-made structures – the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, the Hoover Dam in Arizona, the stone towers at Tikal in Guatemala, but here I felt connected and almost spiritual.
Until we came back down to be faced with the locals who wanted us to buy something.
I eventually got a bargain, I knocked her down to almost half the starting price and paid £5 for a mass-produced purse.
My kindle fits into it perfectly, so I can remember my China trip every time I use it.
Here are some extra photos
