Apologies for the delay in today blog but not we had no internet access at Simitai Lodge.
We have a long lie today before we head up to Simitai Lodge for an evening trek. We take a detour via McDonald however the bus wouldn’t fit thought the drive through so 64 of us queued for Big Mac and Fries.
Tough luck if you were a Beijinger on a restricted lunch break! We also had a walk through a local market area and Justine proved to be a real head turner. Blonde haired women are a rarity in china and to be surrounded by 4 big noses made it more of a spectacle. Chinese people refer to Europeans as big noses, we have been assured by our guides that is not derogatory!
During our walk we also finally found some bicycles in Beijing! We had already be warned that this Trek would be the longest and toughest and that our accommodation was going to be very basic. On arrival we discovered that it more than lived up to our expectations complete with cockroaches in the bedrooms. Time for the Insect repellent!
We had arrived at Simitai at around 3pm and after dropping the bags headed off to climb some of the wild wall up to Tower Number 12 which is over two miles away up a very steep incline that rises to 2500ft. Once again we have two options, the first is to take the cable car up to Tower 8 and walk to 12 or like we did, start at Tower Number 1 and head up. Whilst this is a very tough climb at least the height does give us the advantage of some more stunning views.
Although most of us did make good time on the way up, it was still touch and go to get down before we lost the light. One of the highlights of this climb is the incredibly spectacular views of 135 watchtowers at one time. Once we had climbed back down we had the opportunity to do a 1000ft rope slide. So we strapped up complete with rucksacks for an very exhilarating glide across the Lake.
To complete the last leg of the descent 14 of us boarded what can only be described as a tub designed to hold 6 people. Our Captain Pugwash lookalike then chugged us to shore. Thankfully we had no mishaps as there was 1 life vest between all of us. Daniel Craig eat your heart out.
One our fellow trekkers is Julie Shaw, the West Sound Radio Gardener. Before dinner she did a live radio link to Westsound and West FM to give an update on both the Trek and The Ayrshire Hospice.
Tonights planned meal is a barbecue dinner.
