Dan's Great Wall Trek
Thursday 19 May 2011, 05:38am
After nearly 18 months of planning and fundraising, our graphics artist Dan has just arrived back from hiking a section of the Great Wall of China. Raising money for Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, Dan tackled 60km of the famous landmark, including the not so heavenly ‘Heavenly Stairway’, “460 steps of pain”:
Dan’s Story
The trip was an opportunity I could not pass up – the chance to go to one of the most famous wonders of the world in tandem with raising funds for a local charity. Fund raising for the trip was not the hardest part of preparing for this adventure, I had a vast amount of training to undertake before I would be ready. This was not made any easier when in October I broke my ankle. After six weeks in a cast and a further four still on crutches I could slowly resume my training.
I raised the funds, with help from my sister, also on the trip, by collections around town dressed up as a bear, helping out with a line dance event and car boot sales. In the end I raised over £2,000, which will help Durrell with various projects that they undertake around the world.
By the end of April I was ready for the trip of a lifetime. The people who were to participate in this trek, organised by Charity Challenge, all met in Heathrow airport for the first time. The group of 23 people from all over the UK, representing a wide age range, were there for this challenge to raise funds for various charities, including Durrell, Northern Ireland Hospice, and the NSPCC.
After a 9 ½ hour flight, we arrived in Beijing jet lagged and with what seemed like a mammoth task ahead of us. After a day’s rest near the Black Dragon Pools Nation Park, we started our hike. For the first day we trekked through the park, which was made harder because it was a busy national holiday in China. After a while we left the crowds and witnessed some beautiful natural scenery. For this day we were given a relatively easy walk off the Wall to warm up and prepare for the next four days.
On day two we were given our first glimpse of the Wall, we hiked a section called the Gukeikou Gateway. The Wall in this section was falling away in areas which made the trek a bit harder, however this was nothing compared to what the guides had install for us in the next few days.
For the third day we hiked on a more renovated section of the Wall called the Jinshanling Loop. Here the first section was more of a tourist route, however after a few kilometres the Wall wore away. We experienced some very steep sections, with some steps reaching around 18 inches and clambering around on all fours was common place.
Day four was the day of the ‘Heavenly Stairway’. With a mere one thousand steps to climb to reach the Mutianyu section of the Wall, we could tell this day would be one of the most challenging of all. It was a relatively short walk until we could see the task ahead of us, the ‘Heavenly Stairway’. Over 450 steep steps awaited us, and the upon hearing one of our Chinese guides telling us his record was 2:46 I decided I wanted to complete this in under five minutes, turned out not to be one of my greatest ideas, as after finishing just under the four mark, I had a big nose bleed right before our group photo opportunity.
The final day trekking was undoubtedly the hardest with, sections of the Wall barely still standing, very steep ascents and descents, with us reaching around the height of Ben Nevis at the peak, it was a struggle. However, most of us made it, and I had an experience that will stay with me for the rest of my life along with meeting some people who I hope to keep in touch with for a long time.