05/10/2016. 07:15 – 15:00. 9.3km. 17,998 steps. TA 784m, ME 608m.
Taolingkoucun – Wutongyucun (梧桐峪村)
Woke up early full of anticpation, the homestay lady’s husband who claimed to own a boat was a no show. Rushed to the jetty and was fortunate to find a boat man. Took the morning bamboo raft across and went up the zig-zagging Ming path to Tianjinlou tower (on a clear day, one can see all the way to Tianjin), at 504m in a mere 1hr. 15min. What a wonderful sight of Taolingkoucun framed by the meadering Qinglong river and the vast expanse of the Taolinkou Reservior.
We were extremely encouraged, thinking that we can reach the intended Laohuangjia before darkness. The broken/loose stones/rocks made it difficult - every rock is a potential ankle twister. Plodded along carefully but only made 5.6 km of the wall by noon, with another 6.5 to go. We still had another good 4 hours of daylight but not knowing the condition of the wall and only averaging 1km/hr, we thought it too risky to carry on. Decided to take it easy, had a short nap and exited at Wutongyu gap.
Before the exit, I left a "geocashe" at the highest (524m) tower. This is in gratitude to the kind person who left 2 bottles of water on the Lengkou wall, the day before. We went down the mountain, followed the winding mountain lane to the village shop of Wutongyucun and waited for CH to pick us up.
We were taken to a tiny village, Zhanggezhuangcun (张各庄村?), where kind farmer Chen and wife welcomed us into their real simple farm house. He tried to fill up his long unused rooftop water tank so that we could have a shower, only to discover there were holes in the tank and a shower spray display ensued. It was hilarious and all accepted and taken in good heart of their kindness to accomodate our urban “needs“. Upon our return from our dinner in the village, we were further entertained by farmer Chen doing his big fan dance before we retired to our heated “kang“. We woke up to find him rope skipping in the courtyard, what a cool chap.
06/10/2016. 07:45 – 17:15. 12.1km. 22,407 steps. TA 863 ME 614m.
Wutongyu – Laohuangjia (老黄家).
Another tough rocky, bushy hike and reached the impressive Zhongyukuo (重峪口) pass just after noon. Met a group of cheery happy go-lucky kids on holidays, passing their time fooling around the towers.
After another long stretch of rocks, and exhausting head-height bush fight, and with the help of AL’s 49 broken branch markers, made it to Laohuangjia exit at 17:15, with daylight fast fading. By then, AL has had his 2 beers in Dongdayu (东大峪) village, and as I approached, was told to head towards Hekoucun (河口村) to meet CH and the guys.
Wearily we did, for 3.5km and were glad to meet CH with the team from Singapore. Dinner had been pre-arranged with Mr. Chen – one of the section team leaders of the Fu'ning County‘s 'Great Wall Safeguard' teams; whose son also happens to be Hekoucun village‘s head. Mrs. Chen laid on a sumptuous dinner spread, whilst he embarked on an endless round of "baijiu" toasts late into the night, before relenting to let us sleep over at the Party community centre's dormitory, which was warm and cosy. Most hospitable host and he insisted that we must return again, soon.
In 2003 the Fu'ning Government set up the 'Great Wall Safeguard' system, which divided the 143 km wall into 18 sections. Each section is allocated to a local village team to guard and educate the locals and visitors on the importance of protecting the wall. Each team would regularly patrol their section, and under their effort, the section in their village has avoided further man-made destruction and become the best-preserved in Qinhuangdao City. This set up was adopted, largely due to the 1980 initiative of Zhang Heshan, who lives in Chengziyu village, voluntarily appointed himself a guard of the Great Wall and persisted on daily patrols of the wall near his house for the last 35 years.
07/10/2016. Rain enforced day-off.
Wow, 2 days in a row, woke up to the melodious crowing of the cockerels - it's been a long time since last I heard them. Rain and drizzle meant no walk for today, the singas were so keyed up to walk. Bade fond farewell to Mr. Chen and went to the Qingshankouguan pass to view the prominent eye point wall. Tried to locate another possible exit point around Shanshenmiaocun (山神庙村) area but the persistent rain made it extremely difficult, slippery, dangerous and impossible.
We then took the opportunity to have a tour of Qingshankuo fortress village and visited the Chang's 300 years old house. So humble, so simple, so full of character and adequate. Treated to pears and nuts. Wonderful pleasant hosts.
In a valley surrounded by red-earth mountain cliffs, we found a nearby farmer’s home-stay (农家院) at Fuyagoucun (扶崖沟村), where we were treated to a good dinner and accommodation was in an abandoned (no electricity) building next door. Torchlight to answer the call of nature if need be, candlelight and own sleeping bags for the night.
08/10/2016. 07:35 – 16:30. 8.7km. 15,818 steps. TA 766m. ME 761m.
Laohuangjia - Nianyudonggoucun (鲇鱼洞沟村) - Nianzhangzi (粘杖子)
It was a bright clear day, after the rain, and full of energy boosted by 2 singas, with high expectations of a marathon hike of 12km to Qingshankouguan (青山口关).
Easy enough trek up and along the wall and soon reached the high point marker at 633m, took lots of happy shots - beautiful scenery. 1.5km in, it became abundantly clear that this wall is not made for running. A loud pop and the marathon man met the ankle twister – his right tendon was gone. He bravely dragged, crawled on and after 2 unsucessful attempts to exit the wall, we became very concerned. AL and I had forged ahead over a couple of mountains and at the 4.6km mark at a saddle point, found a clear exit, where we decided to wait for the singas.
Took the north (old Mongolian) side and discovered that we were 18km from our abode, Fuyaguocun in China, our guide-driver was 58km away. Walked for 4km through Nianyudonggoucun to Nianzhangzi whence fortune smiled upon us – we were offered a ride on farmer Chen's (another Chen) 3-wheeler truck, who happened to be going back to Fuyaguocun. We felt like old Mongols riding an iron chariot, charge-chugging at 15km/hr, with a couple of beers, on a lighted half-moon's night with shiny Jupiter in the Milky Way, towards the Qingshankuoguan pass. Imagine the Ming soldiers faces upon such a sight. Of course, we gripped tightly on the open back in a cold 10C wind with shivering knuckles and grinding teeth, and was most relieved to be greeted by CH's 4-wheel drive at the mountain pass. Bade our grateful farewell to farmer Chen and wife and jumped into the warm car back. What an episode - this is truly China - full of wonders.
Another good dinner, this time served with the delicious Tangshan gezha dish – deep fried mung bean pancake pieces stuffed with meat. Gezha is served during festivals, in welcoming visitors and sending them off. It is said locally that “one who hasn’t had gezha feast, cannot be considered as having been to Tangshan".
09/10/2016. 07:20 – 14:30. 6.4km. 11,636 steps. TA 668m, ME 709m.
Zhubiangou (朱边沟) - Qingshankouguan
Xiaohei’s homestay landlord led us to nearby Zhubiangou, which would lead us to the Ming path that AL came south down from yesterday. 3 of us started on another clear bright day, and it still took us 2 hours to reach the wall. It was a tough slow hike, beautiful scenery but pace was too slow to be able to reach the intended exit point at Shibeigou. The team vibe was low, the energy level has ebbed, and the mojo was missing. Then we reaslised it was a Sunday, and decided to halt at Qingshankouguan.
Called for CH and we went over to check out the Shibeigou (石碑沟 ) exit point. Turned out to be a picturesque area - lots of towers and trading passes, with an intimidating plunging drop from a high command tower, after which it would be a straight forward easy hike to the following stop at Jielingkou. Pottered around for a while, fascinated, watching a family happily harvesting their corn.
Returned to Fuyagoucun, bought some drinks from the village shop, sat outside enjoying the cool evening and were offered a crate of free groundnuts by the friendly shopkeeper. China countryside – full of suprises, generousity and kindness.
