I wanted to sit and take in the view, the sounds of the crying birds, breathe in the fresh air, but most of all, absorb the feeling of actually being on the Great wall of China!

It took me a full year to research how to achieve my dream trip (before I got too old - not that I feel old at 45) and eventually found a guide called William Lindesay, who’d take us on the wild, unrestored sections of the Great Wall. He was brilliant and famous in his own right, he’s written several books and made documentaries for National Geo. Originally from Yorkshire but has lived in China for 23 years. Get this - he had never heard of the film Thelma and Louise!!! We soon put him in the picture!

William has converted an old Chinese School house, situated about a quarter of a mile from the wall itself. The location was in the mountainous area of Jiankou, 3 hours drive, North East of Beijing. The accommodation was pretty basic though the superb food his chef’s presented us with was like a 5 star banquet every night!

Over the months of planning this trip, William and myself had carefully devised eight different treks of varying levels. Some were steeper than others, some longer in distance and some more difficult with the terrain underfoot. Most mornings we’d follow William up the forest paths to reach the wall. Twice at sunrise, to enable us to catch the magnificent colours reflecting off the more exposed sections that he knew well.

Tip 1.
Walking boots high above the ankle were essential because of the continuous uneven terrain.

Tip. 2.
Long trousers at all times, even in the heat, were essential, a lot of bushes were spiky in the forest areas. Plus its protection from climbing up parts of the wall, where you would otherwise scrape your skin.

The watch towers were several hundred yards apart, some were more intact than others. They had arched passageways leading through to different sides, built ingeniously and although appearing sturdy, some parts had many loose stones and hung precariously. It was interesting hearing William explain how this Qing Dynasty section was abandoned in 1644 and either the weather, vegetation or pilfering villagers from many years ago, had claimed parts of the Wall.

My favourite time on the wall were the two times we camped. William and his other guide Dragon set up the small tent on the wall itself. I relished in being there for so long, taking as many photos as I wanted and enjoying the company of my friends. As we talked (and ate) long into the night, with the music of Bonjovi playing beside me on my ipod, what more could you want? That was until a huge black spider who had a shell like body, came wandering by us on the side of the wall. William duly flicked the four inch long creature over the side of the wall, away from us shrieking girls!
William happily slept in the open air in his sleeping bag and woke us the next morning in time to catch another striking sunrise. Being a professional photographer he knew of all the very best places to take shots and proved very patient, and even amused, when we had to quickly brush our hair if we were in the picture!

Tip 3.
September is an ideal to go trekking here. Temp 25 degrees and has the least rain fall in the year.

We’d come prepared with mosquito nets and lots of mossie repellant, but didn’t even get them out of their packets, out of the six of us, only a couple had a few small bites, so it proved September really was a perfect month to go trekking. We didn’t even use any waterproofs the whole time either!

Some sections of the treks were very difficult, large stone steps that were two feet high, and only a foot width across. Other sections of the wild wall walking made you hold on to branches either side, then you’d slide down very steep slippy pathways where the steps had fallen years ago, in piles of rubble at the very bottom. Then on other occasions, you’d have to take your day pack off, hand it up to William, while you rock climbed upwards with all your leg strength you could summon! The only blister I had on this whole adventure, was on my little finger - from grabbing on tightly to parts of the wall helping me reach some very steep, yet, impressive sections!
Not every trek was difficult though, a couple were easier, following the paths in the middle of the snaking wall on some beautiful undulating sections. We had fun chatting and having many pic-nics while taking in the breathtaking views, and discussing how on earth the Chinese had built this magnificent Wonder of the World.

Tip 4.
You have to have a good head for heights on a trip like this.

Tip 5.
You have to be be steady on your feet for this type of wild wall walking.
If you want plain reconstructed steps, you are better off going to the Mutianyu section, pretty touristy, and you have to pay, but I’d avoid the Badaling tourist section like the plague, if I were you.

Tip 6
The roads up to the mountain area are very windy, so you also need to be a good car traveller! 
Or have a bag handy!!

Overall, we trekked about 55 miles, which probably doesn’t sound a lot to some, but every mile felt like 3 because of the steep heights and difficult terrain involved.

If anybody else out there wants to experience the real deal - wall walking in its natural state then this is an ideal trip for you. I was so happy that I found William to be our guide, he definitely made this a very special trip. His old Chinese School House can take up to eight people and he has additional local guides to help him when needed.
He works very informally, no booking forms to sign, its all based on trust, and it made a refreshing change to find someone who works like this.

William’s web site can be found at: www.wildwall.com

He explains that he mainly caters for weekends, but will tailor your trip to suit, with a minimum of six people. He only does tours in Spring and Autumn so you need to arrange things with him well in advance. He arranged taxi transport, to and from Beijing, who were spot on, in fact we used them a couple of times after this to visit other sites in Beijing.

Tip 7
For getting about in Beijing, if you have an iphone - as I did - the Chinese Text Converter app was a life saver - many times!

We stayed in Beijing before and after our main trip. Forbidden City & Tianamen Square were a great place to visit. The Sacred way was lovely, though down in the Ming tomb was a little disappointing - looked like a red lorry container! The Lama temple was beautiful and an interesting working temple to see. The fab part was the shopping, in the hutongs near the Bell Tower and Drum Tower. Plus shopping in the 8 storey shopping Mall, Beijing Silk Street, (Xiushui Street) everything was dirt cheap if you bargained - you really did offer them 10% of the money they were asking for!

Flights:
We Flew with KLM, but our connecting flight from Birmingham to Amsterdam was delayed and we only just made our connecting flight to Beijing by 10 lucky minutes!!!
So try and get any connecting flight with a longer time in between!
Our return flight was easier with Air France (who are owned by KLM) and we could book our seats for free via the internet booking.

Overall, this was one of the best things I have ever done in my life and I’ve got thousands - yes thousands of beautiful photos! Plus some fantastic DVD footage. Check it out below.

Thanks too, to T&L for helping me find three lovely girls on this wonderful web site, who joined myself and two other friends for this out of the ordinary adventure.
By
Caroline Harris

Hotels reccommended in Beijing via: www.asiarooms.com

Oriental Culture Hotel, Hou Hai Area 4 star.
with spa and pool £74 a room per night. Great location and within walking distance of nearly everything!
Need to book this 10 months in advance because its very popular.
or
Beijing Traditional View Hotel, Hou Hai Area. 2/3 star.
- Right in the middle of the hutongs, small shop area. £30 a room per night.