Another start at 7:20 for breakfast.   A nice breakfast today with fried eggs, vegetable pancake things, apples and cake things.   Got ready and we headed out at 8:10.  

Took the bus to the starting point where we would walk through a small village.   Got a bit concerned when our guide warned us to avoid coming into contact with any of the dogs as they might have rabies!  We saw a few dogs, including one cute little black one, that didn’t appear to have rabies.   Still, no one touched the dogs. 

We then climbed up a hill to a very old section of the wall built around 2000 years ago.   This section was made of earth and not stone.  We had a bit of a jaunt along this section, which was pretty narrow and crumbling. 

We carried on and the wall changed into the more typical structure of bricks.   Today was the longest day but definitely the most enjoyable as most of the walking was on a nice flat section of the top of the wall.   We carried on along the “Flying Dragon” section for a long time, stopping periodically for breaks in the various towers.  In one tower our guide showed us the bricks where the builders stamped their mark (a former of quality control to tell whose section may be inferior).

We stopped at the 24 window tower for lunch.   A local woman brought us hot cooked stuffed pancakes made of pork and vegetables.  It was very tasty but steaming hot, which was pretty impressive considering she took a motorcycle and then hiked about 30 minutes or so up a steep hill to the tower.  The views from the tower were amazing as we could see a large stretch of the morning’s hike as well as yesterday’s section off in the distance. 

After lunch we hiked down from the wall as the wall carried on through a restricted military zone.  We hiked down a steep and sandy section through a forest and on through some corn fields.  We then wandered up and down through some farmland.   The weather was clouding over and a bit windy but pleasant for walking. 

We descended into a valley to, as our guide referred, the “Tricky Man’s house”.  It was a farm where they sold cold drinks, ice cream and snacks and had a good bathroom.   Had an iced canned coffee and relaxed for a bit. 
We then carried on up a steep hill back to the wall for about 35 minutes.   Got back on the wall at a very uncrowded tourist section and walked for a bit more.  This section was even more impressive as it was uncrowded and stretched out in both directions, making for some great photos!

We then descended from the wall and wandered through a craft market near the wall, which apparently sold reasonably priced souvenirs.  We then stopped for coffee/ beer at a coffee shop before getting in the bus for the ride back to the hotel.  As we were walking back to the bus our guide mentioned that he had heard from the man in the coffee shop that the road to this section of the wall may be closed for 6 months or so next week for improvements and that we may be the last group for this company this year to get to see this section.   Very glad I chose these dates!
Had time for a shower before dinner.   Dinner was great today – some pork and cabbage dumplings, which were more like steamed buns, some chicken, pork, fried rice and vegetables. 

Feeling tired from the long day so back to the room after some chatting to pack and get to sleep.   Tomorrow is the last day on the wall.  Was thinking 5 days night be too much this morning but after today, I’m definitely looking forward to it!