JUST ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL?

Walking along The Great Wall of China was definitely a highlight of our whole trip. On Jesse's recommendation, we opted for the 10km hike from Jinshanling to Simitai. This section of the wall is much less touristy and most of it hasn't been reconstructed. Because of this, it felt more authentic and somehow, after 5 & a half months of 'enjoying life', we managed to race ahead (finishing an hour before everyone else) and so had the wall, and views either side, to ourselves for most of the time. It felt great to really burn off some energy and the landscapes were absolutely breath-taking. 

We kept having to pinch ourselves, to remind us that we were actually walking on 'The Great Wall', images of which we've been familiar with since we were at school. When you're stood on the top of this man-made structure, so close you can see every brick, and you can see it going on and on into the seemingly infinite distance, in both directions, over mountains and down across deep valleys, with huge towers separating each section, you cannot fail to be blown away by its magnitude. It truly is a great wall! 

Oh, and to top it off nicely, we finished with a zip line over a river and down to a boat, which took us to our pick-up point for a local lunch before heading back to Beijing. Perfect...