Hin's 6th C.O.U.N.T. 1,000,000 steps (Sep 20th – Oct 18th, 2014)

11: Bogged down by fog, smog, mist.

Thean Hin Ooi <ooithin@gmail.com>   Tue, Oct 21, 2014 at 8:04 PM

8/10 07:55 – 17:55 18.9km 34,363 steps TA 635m.

Loutuo Bozi – Hongshankou.

A smoggy day and the wall with less overgrown brushes A few challenging climbs and by midday were dehydrated and tracked 4km to get liquid replenishments. Ended the long day at Hongshankou just beside the old Ming theatre stage – no play tonight. Drove 1 hour back to our base at Zunhua.

9/10 11:30 – 16:15 10km 18,182 steps. TA 486m.

Hongshankou – Erdao Chengzicun.

Misty, foggy, smoggy morning and visibility was hardly 30m and the ground was wet. Decided to delay our hike and checked out Panjiakou, our next stop. Started at 11:30am and the climbs were quite tough.

Descended at Erdao Chengzicun and then waited for AL, while he attempts to get to the highest tower before sundown. Drove to Sichengyu (west dam area of Panjiakou reservoir) and found a nice villager’s (LaoRen) guest house – room was clean and warm, and the food was equally good.

10/10 10:30 – 13:00. 6.4km 11,637 steps. TA 462m.

Sichengyu Panjiakou wall.

Dense fog in the morning by the reservoir, allowed us the opportunity to wander round the dam and village area awaiting the lifting of the fog. Started at 10:30 and did a short stretch to and fro up the top of the tower with the wall ending at a cliff.

Had noodle lunch and then charted a speed boat to tour the Great Wall sections (Panjiakou, Xifengkou) entering and emerging from the water. But for the foggy weather, a great chance to view one of the most spectacular scenery of the long Great Wall was missed. The whole reservoir was filled with fish rearing cages and nets – which we were told, caused massive pollution of the dam.

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