Jinshanling - the great wall

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We are now close to Beijing!

This section of the great wall puts the other sections we visited in the west of China in the shade. The wall twists and turns like a snake and climbs steeply up and down the hills. Parts of the wall and the towers have been reconstructed and restored and other parts are still covered in turf and falling down. I particularly enjoyed the section to the far west that I had completely to myself which was tricky underfoot. On this section of the wall the watch towers are very frequent and they create a pattern against the hills. I went up on the wall twice. In the late afternoon I went west as far as the barbed wire block and in the morning I went east as far as the notices saying that the Simatai section was closed. It would have been interesting to walk as far as Simatai, but that section hasbeen closed for quite a while.

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