Part horse, part mountain goat is what's needed in these hills

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10 trains, countless hours and thousands of miles covered we have landed in Dali on China's Western reaches. Clouds clutter the sky and form intricate patterns until they get clogged up around the mountains.

Divided into old and new towns Dali is a place where you really notice changes in food, dress and language. It is most well known for its three pagodas which seem to be on every piece of tourist literature about the region. The old town is sandwiched by one of China's largest freshwater lakes on one side and mountain ranges on the other.

To maintain our fitness levels we decided that we would climb Cangshan mountain which was directly behind our hostel. After an hours walk which took us to the car park at the foot of the mountain we came across a man with his horses who promised to take us to the top for a meer 50 yuan (or 5 GBP!) Determined to reach the top the hard way Tom and I scoffed at the offer and trudged on for ....hmmm.... about... 50 metres by which point we had talked ourselves into the horse option - well it is supporting the local economy after all!

The first shock came after five minutes whereby we were led to a very high stone staircase. Our guide pointed upwards. Having had a horse for a number of years I know it is not customery for horses to climb steps - it seems however that these rules do not apply in China and off we went with me holding on for dear life. Little did I know but this was easing me in to what can only be described as extreme horse riding.

The horses traversed across bolders, up rock faces that most humans (except maybe spiderman) would need ropes for, along paths where the mud touched my feet, through rivers, across another path which was about 12 inches wide with a sheer drop on both sides and perhaps the most frightening was a section of path which just had big gaps in it which with one wrong step you could tumble hundreds of feet. These the horses jumped across. I freely admit that by the time I came to the conclusion that the horse was better off without my input there were points when I just closed my eyes.

After reaching the top we spent the afternoon exploring and recovering and were much relieved to see that the cable car offered us an easier route down.

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