Thu 12 April: Last day on the wall

Thursday 12 April

Another early start and another dreadful breakfast - dried up fried eggs, bimbo bread and orange squash, all washed down with a brown liquid that we could not confidently identify. Packed lunch was identical to yesterday's... Yum. We walked past the 'soluble coffee' shop once more and made our way back up the steep slope and steps onto the wall. For our warm up we were met by a number of rather bemused looking locals who quickly joined in. For the next part of the walk something amazing happened - WE WEREN'T LAST! Although the route was shorter than yesterday to allow time for our transfer back to Beijing city, it had some spectacular moments.

 There were some very steep climbs with spectacular views and one particular section where the steps were at an angle of 70 degrees. By this point, Anya's knee had decided to swell up and she was forced to take the lower path - the 'easy' route (complete with rock climbing and sheer drops) while I (Lisa) tackled the steeper section. Rather impressively, I managed to tackle the whole section without once looking up, down, or over the (very low) sides - I looked only at the step in front of me.

After a lunch stop, it transpired that we were almost at the end of our trek. Our guide had originally thought that we might be up to a longer walk, but we could not manage the required pace - some were convinced that it was due to the night before's alcohol intake, but we suspect that it was more to do with exhaustion than the two bottles of 3% Chinese beer we had consumed!

The walk down from the wall was along a newly constructed path, through trees and gardens. Emotions ran high as people remembered the reason(s) they were there. Anya and I stepped down from the wall together, just as we had stepped in together 5 days before...

A glass of bubbly in hand, we toasted our success, our friends and families and remembered those who couldn't be with us. Stepping back onto the bus brought not only feelings of relief and happiness, but also a feeling of sadness that the trek was over...

Next, a 2 hour transfer to Beijing...