Simatai to Jinshanling

Looking back at the way we've just come - up the steep Simatai section. This is the extra bit some of us were stupid enough to do at the start of the day: straight up, up, up, then straight back down, down, down. It was really hard, but I'm really glad I did it.

You can see the distant start of Jinshanling section, which we've got to get back to and start going along, in the top-right of the frame. Those trekkers sensible enough to not do the extra bit had passed that point a little while before I took this photo - much catching up to do!

Here we are on the way up the Simatai section, surrounded by hawkers. The chap sat down facing us was "my" hawker, although I managed to not notice that fact until about an hour later.

Here's a brick in the rise of a step on the Simatai section. The actual brick's horizontal, but I've rotated the image since the lettering is the interesting part, really.

This is a good example of my images being cropped at the side: there should be some mortar visible at the bottom of the image, and indeed there is on the negative.

Here they are: the fourteen trekkers certifiably crazy enough to follow Anthony up the extra Simatai section. At this point we'd managed to shake off the hawkers (they knew we were coming back down anyway), hence the smiles. We went a little bit further up (one more tower I think?) but this was basically the top for us.

Front row: Laura (pay attention, girl!), Rich, Bek (wrong Hat!), Chris, Louisa, Neil.

Back row: Yours truly, David, Llew, Oli, Kit, Hugh, Emma, Kim.

I'm pretty sure this watchtower was as far as we got on the Simatai climb. We could have walked further but time was pressing: we had to turn around, descend, and catch up with the others by sundown.

I'm also pretty sure that the left-hand window in the watchtower is the one where I took my favourite shot.

Hugh, Anthony, Kit, Llew, Kim, and David at the top of the Simatai section. Anthony in typically exuberant mood. Note that everyone else looks knackered.

Here it is: my favourite photo from the trek. Yes, OK, so it's not incredibly original or anything - I don't care, I think it looks great. I made several attempts at a "naturally framed" shot like this and this is definitely the one that worked best.

This was taken at the top of the Simatai section, which was the very hard extra bit some of us did at the start of the second day.

This fabulous chain bridge links the two sections at Simatai, so after we ascended and descend the Simatai section, we had to cross this to start the Jinshanling section.

Don't worry folks, it doesn't matter how much it rocks back & forth and bounces up & down, it won't throw you off - honest. Oh, what fun we had.

Looking back at the Simatai section from the other side of the valley. We reached the wall by the path from the right, which at that point was thronged with hawkers waiting to pick us up. The plan was to turn right (which would in itself annoy them) and hotfoot it up to the first tower, have a short rest, then continue to the second, shaking them off along the way.

Unfortunately it didn't work, and as it's a pretty steep long section, and it was pretty hot, it absolutely killed us. By the time we reached the second tower I was seriously regretting agreeing to this extra section, and basically not having any fun at all. Fortunately by the time we got to about the fifth, I'd cheered up and started enjoying myself. By the top, I was feeling great. This particular bit of wall, however, will always be "ouch" in my mind.

The first bit of wall on the Jinshanling section. Gorgeous, isn't it?

This piece of wall was so rough as to be unwalkable (unless you were exceptionally intrepid which, at this point in the day, we weren't), so you take a path beside it for a few hundred yards. This was the first point the guides became useful, in that the path wasn't always completely obvious - but having said that, if they'd been absent I'm sure we'd have figured it out. Anyway, nice wall, eh?

In the hazy distance we have the Simatai section which some of us were stupid enough to climb before tackling the Jinshanling section. At bottom right you can see the path which took us onto the wall, and the ouch section. We climbed as far as the seventh or eighth watchtower, which are somewhere in the top middle. Blimey.

In the foreground we have a bit of Jinshanling section which I think we had to take a path around because it was too rough.

Follow the crumbly brick road, follow the crumbly brick road, follow follow follow follow follow the crumbly brick road. Etc.

A nice little retrospective shot of part of the Jinshanling section. From the height the picture was taken at you can judge the steepness of the bit I'd just climbed. It also looks to me as if the curvy section between the watchtowers is that seen in this shot.

There you go: a nice moody wintery shot. Why not consider a trip to the Great Wall for your next angst-ridden gothic rock video?

For some reason I look at this photo and think "Scotland". Bizarre.

Check out that ice! At this point our guides truly excelled themselves. Without their constant exhortations to "be careful" I shudder to think what may have happened.

Actually, in all seriousness, I'm sure that when the earlier group went through, the guides were supremely helpful to some of the less sure-footed trekkers. But Louisa and I didn't really want their help, so all they could do was tell us to be careful and point at the ice which, whilst amusing, also got quite annoying. Hey ho. :-)

Now here's the biggest reason I have for wishing the guides had left us alone. At this point they guided us off the wall, and along the path to the left - you can see some people on it in the photo. All well and good, we'd been guided off the wall earlier too. So, imagine our horror and disappointment later that day when Anthony told us you could go over, and he had gone over - it was just the guides being lazy. Really annoying.

Here is the other side of the bit we missed.

Here's Louisa, who I walked with for the afternoon, from Simatai to Jinshanling. I had a really great time walking with her, talking about photography and the like, and she's and I subsequently won the joint prize for "Most Boring Conversation" - ie about cameras! What can I say? Harsh but fair, harsh but fair. :-)

I do hope Louisa likes this photo, because I'd hate to have to take it offline...

The bits on the left of the path on the way up are little walls for defenders to hide behind and ambush attackers from, while their compatriots climbed the ladder into the watchtower and pulled it up behind them. Presumably the stupid ones stayed outside, doing the ambushing, while the clever ones got into the watchtower. :-)

Here's the same place but from a different angle, and in colour.

Let's hear it for the Great Wall of China. Here we see two photography geeks on the wall, hoping that the guide taking the picture is not about to run away with the gorgeous Canon A-1. Damn, my nose looks big.

I can't decide if I like this photo or not. I think I do, but a bit of me is saying it's not as interesting as it appears it should be, if that makes sense. All comments appreciated.

Mine and Louisa's guides on the Simatai to Jinshanling section. These guys followed us all the way, helping us where we wanted help (which to be honest was almost nowhere), saying "be careful" repeatedly, and attempting to sell us a book and postcards at the end of the line. I bought from mine, since he'd been such a trooper.

Here's the rest of the bit of wall we missed because the guides lazily took us around it instead of over it. Well, maybe they weren't being lazy, maybe they were concerned for our safety... But to find out afterwards we could have done this section was vexing to say the least.

Here is the other side.

Approaching the end of the Jinshanling section. Now that the end was in sight our spirits really buoyed up - we'd been worried we weren't going to make it. The village of Jinshanling, where we stayed that night, is nestling in the valley in the top-right of the picture.

This looks better on the printed version I've got at home, because the wall's basically completely in silhouette. All the same, I think it's quite nice. This was taken at about four o'clock in the afternoon, I guess.

Once we reached the end of the "core" section of wall we were supposed to be walking, we continued onto a short extra section. By this point we were absolutely elated - a hard day's walking was coming to an end and it had been great, we felt physically fantastic, and best of all, the hawkers didn't follow us onto this section. The peace was just incredible. You could stop and listen and hear nothing but birds and the occasional distant voice. It was absolutely gorgeous: one of the golden moments of my life.