The Great Wall of China

It's very hard to do justice to this most iconic structure, or to be precise, structures, as it has never been a continual wall. The walls snake their way through 17 provinces, principalities and autonomous regions for around 5000kilometres but modern calculations put it much longer, a more recent survey has found all the sections to be 21,119kms  Despite what I have always believed the wall rarely prevented China's enemies from invading, there were inevitable gaps and it was through those that Genghis Khan rode through to take Beijing in 1215.  Although its was never an effective defence it became a way of transporting people and equipment across mountains, kind of like an elevated highway.  During the time of Chairman Mao peasant farmers were actively encouraged to use the wall as material for building houses, something that still goes on unofficially today.  It wasn't till as recently as 1984 that Mao's successor Deng Xiaoping ordered that the wall be restored in places and placed under government protection.We specifically wanted to hike in to a more remote part of the wall to avoid tourists and traders, I think you can see we managed to achieve that.  We hired a guide who drove us to a little village called Zhuàngdàokõu where we made our way through a chestnut orchard before starting our ascent. The main picture is me and my husband Michael.  The extras have our friends Alice and James, also our guide June, and you can see four year old Douglas who has mild Cerebral Palsy, he managed everything we all did and we're very proud of him.  I have decided to show you the trash, even in such a remote area man has left a big dirty footprint (not to mention the smog).  When we came back down we had a beautiful meal prepared by a young couple who are running a bunk house with meals provided, they're doing a great job.