If most people were asked for an adjective to describe the Great Wall of China, I would be prepared to bet that a popular one would be ‘long’.  For me, it is a different word that comes to mind: ‘steep’.

It was something for which I was not prepared before I visited the Mutianyu section of the Wall, roughly 100kms northeast of Beijing.  But it was something that I was quick to discover.

Opting for the convenience of the 4-person, enclosed gondola chairlift over the, frankly scary-looking 2-person open-air ride, I was swiftly transported to the start of the Wall itself, and thought that I had saved myself the fag of a long 4,000-step ascent, but where I had believed that ride was going to be the end of any ups and down, I was mistaken.   Each section of the Wall, between its dividing watch-towers, involves a considerable additional ascent––or descent, depending on which direction you are going––and some of the steps, which are required to be scaled, are both distinctly high and distinctly narrow.  Overall, going up was okay; but some descents I was forced to perform backwards, like going down a ladder.

However, this all sounds rather like I am grumbling, and I don’t mean to, because the overall experience was breath-taking.  The mountain scenery was spectacular, and the white blossom beautiful.  If I was an expert on different types of rocks and different types of trees, I would name them but, since I am not, I will just say that there were a lot of both.  Above, the sky was clear; the air crisp and fresh, in stark contrast to the grey haze, which seemed to permanently carpet the city.

And, through this vast landscape, the Wall winds, serpentine, providing a point of focus; ever onwards, suggesting further empty tracts of land, which will lie forever beyond my explorations; a physical statement to the graft and enterprise of humanity, whilst simultaneously illustrating that humanity’s finest endeavours still remain dwarfed when held up in comparison to the majesty of the surrounding Nature.

© E. C. Glendenny

E. C. Glendenny practices her Wall-walk.