Fifth and Final Day- Mutianyu Section

The week ended how it had begun with yet another early alarm call, 5.30am! It was a really odd knowing that we had one final day to go and that it would be the toughest both physically and mentally. It was time to don my charity t-shirt and get prepared for the day.
We had breakfast, more of the usual Chinese style Western items, and then had a short bus ride to the Mutianyu section. This section of the Wall is quite touristy so it was quite unlike any of the other days. For a start there were three choices on how to reach the Wall. Cable car, chair lift or old fashioned steps. Not wanting to shirk out of a challenge on the final day I naturally headed for the steps along with the majority of the group and began the long climb up, 468 steps in total just to get to the Wall. This took half an hour alone and my legs were screaming most of the way up even with a few rests.

Once we were at the top we discovered the view was well worth the climb. We were at watchtower 10 and our end point was at watchtower 20 and we had 4 hours to get there and then get ourselves back to the coach so there was not time to lose! It was actually quite a luxury to walk this stretch of the Wall after the stretches we had done over the last few days in that it had a paved path with walls encasing us so there was no chance of falling off for once! It was still along way to trek and when we reached the 19th tower we looked up to where the 20th was at it was at the top of another 400 steps known as the Stairway to Heaven, a 70 degree slope!

After a brief refuel and reapplication of sun cream it was time to tackle the steps. This was probably the toughest climb knowing that the end was in sight and my legs were like lead by the time I reached the top but it was well worth it. The views were simply stunning and the sense of achievement was overwhelming. I took a few moments to myself after the initial celebratory hugs with my fellow trekkers and just looked out over the scenery and let the whole experience sink in. It was hard to believe that I had completed the challenge.

After a few pictures it was time to think about getting back to the coach. There were three options for us. One was to walk back to tower ten and descend the stairs we had climbed up, the second was to get the cable car down from tower thirteen or the third was to get the toboggan down from tower four. I decided to get the toboggan along with a few others so we set off on the final leg of our trek. We were all in really high spirits that we barely noticed the distance we had to travel in order to get down and once we caught sight of the toboggan it looked so much fun that we sped up and got ourselves in the queue. It was such an amazing way to end the trek speeding down half a pipe and it took about two minutes compared to the half hour climb up the stairs!

Fourth Day- Simatai Section

A rather too early alarm call for at 6am for the fourth day of the trek. By this time I was feeling rather tired and a teeny bit drained but after a rejuvenating breakfast including coffee (!) we set off towards Simatai.
Phil had briefed us the night before and claimed this was the most stunning section of the Great Wall that we would see. Unfortunately it was rainy and misty so the views weren't brilliant at first but the cooler conditions were not as punishing as the belting heat so that was a slight comfort. As the sun came up thankfully it broke through enough of the mist to allow us to absorb what would indeed prove to be the most stunning scenery we would see.
Our challenge for the day was to climb up to and down from 12 watchtowers. Both the inclines and declines were extremely challenging as the steps were not as formed as steps can be and the paths were gravelly and crumbling in most parts. I think the toughest sections were the steps that varied incredible in depth, height and width with little warning. Some of them were so high I had to lever myself up with my trusty walking pole, looking back I was lucky I had such long legs :)
This was the day I took the most pictures too as we had several breaks in order for the group to remain largely together. Usually I wouldn't have minded so much but since it was really quite cool after 5 minutes rest we were all really quite cold so resorted to doing start jumps and running on the spot!

After a few hours of stopping and starting the decision was made to cut the challenge short by 3 towers. I was really really disappointed as I believe it would have been entirely possible to complete the challenge and certainly could have been done before the conditions had gotten so bad but with the delays and waits it was necessary to turn back. We were all a bit damp by now and conditions underfoot were certainly a lot slippier so the decision was probably for the best in hindsight. I made the most of the rests on the way down and just took in the scenery knowing that I would most likely never be there again, it was a truly magical day.