First Day on the Great Wall

First of many 6.30 alarm calls and a quick shower before getting ourselves organised for the day. My blisters had really flared up by this point so Philip helped me by bandaging them up so I could force my feet into my boots. I was extremely worried by this time that I was not going to be able to even take part as my feet were already pounding but I knew that it wasn't an option to give up so I thought of all the sponsors and encouragement everyone had given me and it drove me on through the pain.
Our first experience of breakfast was interesting to say the least. Rather than the usual toast, tea and cereal there were egg fried rice, cabbage with red chilli peppers and odd yellow coloured sweet bread (for want of a better word!) However knowing that we were about to embark on a day of trekking I tucked in and ate what I could then it was time to get on the coach and head to Badaling for the first day of trekking. It was already over 30 degrees when we set off around 8am and would steadily climb to a scorching 36 degrees in the shade! Almost unbearable! As we walked past the sign saying Welcome to the Great Wall I looked up and saw that we had a good climb to even get to the Wall, I don't really know what I expected but it wasn't that! At first it was a nice even paved path but after 5 minutes it was on to uneven, gravelly ground and many many steps. The first half hour was almost impossible and I really doubted myself and wondered how on earth I was going to do it but the thought of letting people down spurred me on and got me through the initial struggle. After I got over the initial shock it was time to take in my surroundings and actually think about the fact I was on the Great Wall of China! Truly amazing after a whole year of thinking about it to be actually there. During the next 5-6 hours we had to take regular breaks to make sure we all stuck together and drank enough water but this was a great excuse to take some pictures and take in the awesome surroundings, it was really hard to believe that we were on the Great Wall. My main challenge was that it was so so hot and there were so so many steps. The challenge was to climb up to the watchtowers which loom every few hundred metres in this particular part of the wall and every time we thought we were at the last one another one appeared over the horizon! The plan was to keep going and then descend for lunch so we pushed on and on then it was finally time to start our descent. This was actually tougher in a way than climbing up to the towers themselves. Scrabbling down gravelly paths when you can see a drop for miles down would test anyone's nerve.
My feet were so sore by now and the heat had almost zapped all my energy along with my 4 litre water supply but then we caught sight of our coach at the bottom and got a second wind. I have never been so grateful to climb into an air conditioned coach and flop onto a seat!
After we had all made it onto the bus we headed to Mrs Wong's for lunch in a local village for our second chinese meal of the day. It was actually really lovely and we had all built up a huge appetite after a day's trek. I hadn't managed to eat much either as my chocolate bars had all melted so had just had a banana, a staple of my diet for the week to come! After a lovely lunch and some pictures it was time to get on the coach and head to our accommodation for the evening where we would eat our third chinese meal of the day and be briefed on the following day's activity before flopping into bed at 10pm! Completely exhausted!