Beijing Day 6

It's our last day and we were all up early to beat the traffic to The Great Wall. The rain that had arrived last night had moved on leaving puddles on the road and making everything feel a little more fresh. The weather was cool and overcast; grey with pretty poor visibility.

We set off into the drab weather, through the thickening traffic, but making good time with our driver Mr Wong. As we headed out of Beijing we caught site of hills that led up to the mountains. The countryside is scrubby with small trees dotted around the place, and appears pretty dry. The Wall, in this area, goes down through ravines and gorges, and up over the mountains. It's quite amazing when you first see it as the Wall snakes its way across the hills and doesn't appear that substantial at first.

We alighted from the bus and together with South Africa's Uplands and Crawford colleges we had a great group photo in front of the wall.

Then we set off. Our guide Ray told us it was steep but you don't have any idea until you're actually climbing the wall itself. Try and picture this: a stair with risers that vary between 250 and 300mm (say about a foot for those imperialists amongst us), but the tread itself can be as narrow as around 200mm. It's a tough climb but we all gave it a really good go.

There were frequent stops for us all as we continued up, watch-tower by watch-tower. Not only were we catching our breath from the exertion of the climb, but the vista from the wall is absolutely amazing!!

It was busy. Because of it being a public holiday, and because of its popularity, The Wall gets crowded with both local and international visitors. However, the crowds thin substantially the further higher up you go.

At the top of this section, it's now cool and breezy but the wind has blown any lingering low cloud away. You can see for miles, through the gorge and back to Beijing city in the distance. Closer, you can see the Wall turn back across the valley and wind it's way back up the other side. From this height it really takes your breath away; the scale of it.

There was one casualty when a hockey mum dropped her phone off the wall but luckily one those good-looking strapping football lads from Crawford College leapt down and rescued the phone... One happy hockey mum!!

Once we returned to the bottom of the gorge the Crawford boys were very kindly posing for photos with the St Oran's girls and locals alike. After about 30 minute of this we managed to persuade them to give up their position on the steps so our girls could perform our cultural item there on the steps of China's Great Wall. I can tell you it was fantastic!!!

I've been to Beijing 2-3 times but never stood on the Great Wall. Very happy now that I have, and would highly recommend it to any other visitors!!

We've just had lunch which was quite possibly the best Chinese food all week AND even had fried fish and French fries which made Ian quite happy. We're on our way back to the Silk Market one last time to see how quick we can burn through the last few yuan in our pockets.

Then back to the hotel for packing & sleep! On our way home tomorrow!!!

I guess I should fess up to the other casualty today, when I accidentally hit the Principal in the head with a soccer ball. I'm pretty sure the damage is superficial and she'll be back at work in the next few weeks. I should also mention that Diane Thompson is mostly to blame for starting all this ruckus before it got out of control...