In early April 2016 we started a 6 day trek of The Great Wall with some trepidation. It all just seemed up! But what a wonderful, exhausting, brilliant time we had.

We saw the wall in all its guises from earthen bank to full restoration. At times we walked on sections of the wall that few other visitors ever see. This was enhanced by the magnificent wild fruit blossom of the peach, cherry and apricot trees that we saw on the way. In places the trees had been cut down to enable access to the wall but in some sections (at Jiankou a virtually deserted section of the wall) we meandered through the blossoming trees, smelling their fragrant scent as we walked and clambered along the Great Wall in its largely original condition where the vegetation was allowed to flourish. A truly memorable experience that will stay with us forever.