The happy prospect of another expedition with China Hiking. We join the crowded highway heading out of Beijing. Many are leaving a crowded place in order to spend their free time among more crowds. But we are heading for solitude, to a wilder section of the wall where there are no vendors or garbage bins.

This solitude is remarkably easy to find. The watchtowers stand alone. There are two main seasons up here. The green season and the brown season. At this time of the year (the last part of the green foliage season in our case) wild apples and berries can be picked and enjoyed en route. The sun is shining and there is a pleasant breeze.

The wall never fails to impress as it snakes across the landscape. The shapes of distant hills layered into the horizon in various shades of grey. It is a photogenic place and I have never witnessed any hiker up here who has been disappointed with the views.

I have brought a bicycle with me. I like to think it’s the first one that has ever made it to this section of the wall. It’s not a real one, but a model. A gift from a friend who cannot be here because of work commitments, but who I hope will appreciate being remembered. This mini-bike looks remarkably at home nestled among the stones of the watch towers and crennelations of the wall borders. I can’t help thinking about the sentries and guards who watched over this place. They would have found these full sized metal and aluminum horses incredibly useful. It was to be hundreds years before other invaders brought bicycles to this land.

Fred and I rxchange comments of enthusiasm about the place. We never get bored of being here. As guide and customer respectively we feel privileged to be allowed to come back to the Great Wall.

It is our favourite wall in the world.

Heidi and Fred support the local people. A nearby farmhouse supplies dinner. The food is ferried up a steep path to the campsite on a huge wooden plank. Delicious. Later, this and the accompanying wine and beer, induce an exchange of songs from a variety of different countries. This takes place around the crackling campfire at this time of the year. During the brown season it is strictly forbidden as the risk of starting a bush fire is too great.

Banter joins the sparks on random trajectories when darkness descends. As the moon and stars appear the conversation topic switches briefly to constellations. Everyone is in a good mood. Our tents, mats and sleeping bags are in position to transport us to sleep.

. . .

After a sumptuous outdoor breakfast at the farmhouse, which includes noodle soup and current buns, we conclude the journey by hiking the remaining few kilometers to the minibus with our clothes smelling of campfire smoke and the desire to repeat this unforgettable experience at some point in the future. In my case hopefully before the green season is over!

Gerald Bagge

April was a month where we went to Gubeiko Great Wall quit a few times And every time it was completely different.

The second week of April is the week where everything is changing in the mountains around Beijing.

A few days later we were hiking on the same Gubeikou Great Wall…. This time the sun was shining and the hills were filled with white  Apricot flowers.

Again a few days later the Apricot flowers where almost  gone and and the strong wind give us rapid changes between sunshine and clouds   during our hike from Gubeiko to Jinsanling.

Yesterday we went back again to Gubeiko Great wall and this time the sky was so clear we could see as far as the eye could reach. In this area of the Great wall that means that the landscape becomes so picturesque that it feels like you’re walking in a movie scene.

As you see this is  times the same hike in the same month and yet every thing was so different each time we went there. Collors changed form yellow to white to green to blue….  a slow painter would have a hard time keeping track I guess 😉