The tour group left at 6:30am the next day for what I thought was a nice leisurely stroll along the Great Wall. I’d been nervous about the 10 km stroll. Frank did not warn us about the type of walk we were facing. 10kms yes. Up & down really difficult terrain - no. When people think of the Great Wall, they usually (or, rather, I usually) think of well paved surfaces easy to walk along with no steep gradients. Right? Perhaps even with cuddly panda bears along the way.
What we had was 4 hours of gruelling, & I mean tortuous, hiking - up & down over often rocky crumbling surfaces, often needing to climb in sections. I quickly came to think of it as a survival measure. I simply had to get to the other end or I may very well be left behind. Inevitably I made it to the end. But I did wonder what would have happened if I wasn’t able to. I won’t deny it, visions of a helicopter flying in to winch me out had fluttered through my mind on the odd occasion through my walk. I'm certain I wasn't the only one who had similar visions.
What we had was 4 hours of gruelling, & I mean tortuous, hiking - up & down over often rocky crumbling surfaces, often needing to climb in sections. I quickly came to think of it as a survival measure. I simply had to get to the other end or I may very well be left behind. Inevitably I made it to the end. But I did wonder what would have happened if I wasn’t able to. I won’t deny it, visions of a helicopter flying in to winch me out had fluttered through my mind on the odd occasion through my walk. I'm certain I wasn't the only one who had similar visions.
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