Barracks & Huangya

This is the first photo I took of the wall (well, apart from this one). It's taken from the car park at the entrance of the Barracks, just after we arrived.

The section visible here is the end part of the first morning's walk - you actually come off the wall just before the watchtower, and take a path down on the other side.

Here's an almost-circular doorway, off the car park at the entrace of the Barracks. Apparently circular doors are a "classical" Chinese architectural feature - but I don't think this is a particularly great example.

Note the circular watchtower just visible above the roof of the building on the right of the picture. This was a standalone tower, seperate from the wall, and can probably be seen in pictures on my third film - which, at time of writing, hasn't been uploaded. You can see it a bit better in this picture, but not much better...

This is what you see if you walk through the front gate of the Barracks and look left immediately. OK, it doesn't look much, but I was terribly excited to be there. :-) The steps on the right lead into the courtyard containing the restaurant. Blessed be the restaurant.

Gratuitous "arty" shot through eight-inch window in the Barracks wall. Kinda nice photo, but not great, I think.

The Barracks is remarkable for two reasons. First, it's bloody cold. Second (and making up for the first), the Great Wall runs past and around it, forming its exterior wall. Here we can see one part of that exterior wall: to the left is the interior of the compound, to the right is the outside world.

The red areas are crabapples drying in the sun, a recurrent theme at Huangyagguan.

You can see this view from the other side in this photo.

The Barracks isn't just a hotel - it also contains such attractions as a maze (which, ironically, I couldn't find), and the "Longevity Garden", which is a rather tranquil space dedicated to the concepts of longevity, respect for your elders, filial responsibility, etc. - all traditional Chinese values which are apparently under attack in our modern age.

Unfortunately I arrived at the Longevity Garden a bit too late in the day for photography - the sun was setting and most of it was in shadow, and any photos I'd taken just wouldn't have come out well. However, the walls of the garden were covered with these tiles, and one wall was still (just) catching the sun, so I hurriedly took this picture, which I'm fairly pleased with. After taking it, I found out that the tiles each show a different ideogram for "longevity", and there are about 30,000 of them on the garden walls - blimey.

And so it was, that after arriving at the Barracks, and night falling, and it getting bloody cold, and food being eaten, and beer being drunk, and beds being slept in, that the trekkers awoke, and it was bloody cold, and bloody early, and yea they went to the restaurant for some breakfast, and from the restaurant they went to the car park and gathered there, ready for their most excellent adventure. Time: about 8am.

Oh yeah, that's the front gate of the Barracks, by the way. Nice, isn't it?

We left the Barracks and started walking through the village of Huangya on our pre-walk to the wall.

I particularly like this photo because it contains many good things: the blue sky, the mountains, the Great Wall (this afternoon's section), the round watchtower, the Barracks itself, crabapples, horses, and, yes, those are camels.

A close-up on the gate from this picture, with Llew, Laura, and Emma is wrapped-up-warm resplendent technicolour. Well, black and beige.

Our pre-walk took us through the village until this point where we hung a left, through this gate and onto the road which led to the wall. Pretty, isn't it? See the moon?

The three walkers at the front are my room-mate Llew, and Laura & Emma. You can see them, and the gate, better in this version of the picture.

We definitely landed in Huangya at the height of crabapple season: all over the place there were people cutting them into thin slices with secateurs and laying them out in the sun (eg, see here).

The accepted wisdom amongst the trekkers (which may of course be completely incorrect) was that crabapples can't be eaten, so maybe they're going to be used to make a dye or something? OK, maybe "accepted wisdom" is a little strong for such vague hypothesising, but there you go. If anyone knows better, please tell me! :-)

I'm amazed how many photos I've got of people walking away from me (look: here's another!). The problem was, I'd be right at the front of the group, and I'd pause to take a photo, and by the time I'd framed the shot, I was at the middle of the group, and by the time I'd taken the shot, I was at the back! Still, got me warmed up, running to the front so I could take another. :-)

These guys are riding the horses seen here. They waited until we'd got to where the road started sloping uphill, then rode past offering us lifts. I don't think they had much luck however, what with it being the first morning's walk and with us all there to trek not ride. On the other hand I wouldn't have minded a go. I particularly like the smoker at the front. :-)

The first morning's pre-walk was the longest all week. About two-thirds of the way up to the wall, we rested at this lookout spot (which was actually some sort of concrete irrigation apparatus, I think). Photos were duly taken. Clearly I didn't take this photo - did you?

The wall visible in the background is the afternoon's section, for which see my third film.

This is the sight which greeted us at the end of the first morning's pre-walk: the Great Wall! Bloody nice spot for a hotel, eh? Alas, it's derelict and thus no longer accepting reservations.

Here's a better view of the statue visible on the left.

Here's a close-up of the group seen in this picture.

Here we see the collected trekkers during our last pre-wall minutes. Look, you can see the anticipation on our faces, can't you? Except for Harry - but I think you can see it in his arse. Don't worry, he's not actually about to moon at us, he's just helping Harriet up onto the statue. Of course, that's me at the back with my arms in the air.

Whenever I see this picture it also conjures up an image of Anthony standing there with about forty cameras at his feet, working his way through them and trying desperately to keep the "done" pile seperate from the "not done yet" pile. :-)

By the way, if anyone can tell me what or who this statue is of, I'd like to hear it - thanks.

Update: you can probably see the anticipation in their faces better in this close-up. Harry's arse, sadly, is missing.

After the statue, Anthony gave us a final pep-talk, which he finished with the words "Let's go do some wall". Let's, indeed.

At this point I'm kind of wandering around, putting my hands on bricks, and telling myself I'm standing on the Great Wall of China - but not really taking it in. After all the anticipation, this was the moment when we were finally there - absolutely fantastic.

Two things can be seen from this photo: First, some people yomped off very quickly. Second, I didn't, and got left near the back. This was fine by me, as I was in no hurry to leave exactly where I was at any moment I was on the wall - that was true all week.

There's an expanded version of this photo here.

This is a composite of two pictures (here's the first) - a technique I used a few times during the week to produce L-shaped or T-shaped pictures. I think it kinda works, although it's not hard to see the join... :-)

I can't think of much to say about this shot except "here's the Wall", so I'll let it speak for itself.

Actually, that's a lie - they did. I really like this picture because it gives a good sense of scale, with the people disappearing into the distance (and that tiny little trekker at the top - bless!).

I also like the snow, although it's a bit blue (my fault, I could have compensated for it). Snow and ice in the shade was a recurrent theme all week - very pretty.

Another wallscape that's just going to have to speak for itself, I think.