Firstly, thank you for taking the time to visit our page.
We are a group of 5 middle-aged lunatics who decided to walk 100k along the Great Wall of China at the beginning of October to raise money for 2 charities, Lionheart and Weston Park Hospital Cancer Appeal. None of us had ever done anything like this before (or probably ever will again!)
The walk was the idea of the RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) and when Kevin, our Yorkshire Chairman, first mentioned it, I don't think we really paid much attention. And then he said he was going to do it which really made us sit up and take notice. Well, we couldn't let him do it on his own! So we said we'd think about it. And then, very suddenly, a close colleague of ours died of cancer, leaving a young family. And that was the deciding factor for us, and especially for me, as I was treated for cancer at Weston Park Hospital in 2004 and I'm one of the lucky ones. I survived it!
So on 29th September we flew to Beijing and the following day started walking on the wall itself. First day was quite gentle but on Tuesday we walked for 8 hours, starting with Heaven's Ladder and 2 hours of steep uphill climbing - some on very narrow ledges and in blistering heat. The Wall is all either up or down; there are no level stretches, and as the guide told us, it was designed by a giant and a dwarf. The steps are a mixture of 2 inches to 2 feet high. Most of the Wall on which we walked was unrepaired, so there was actually relatively little walking as such and a great deal of scrambling and climbing on terrain equivalent to your average building site. In some parts even that was too dangerous to cross so we had to come off the wall and fight our way through the Chinese equivalent of brambles and nettles.Suddenly we understood the meaning of the Challenge.However the knowledge that by doing this walk we will be raising money for these very deserving charities is what will make all our efforts worthwhile.For the next 6 days we walked long ( up to 8 hour) stretches of the wall in both extreme heat and torrential rain and over terrain which British Health and Safety would never let us anywhere near. One day we climbed a section known locally as the B****** steps: a steep (about 1 in 3)ascent on unstable ground with a sheer drop on each side. And we did it! On another day the cloud was so low that, part way up another stepped ascent you could see neither the bottom nor the top of the steps! Our accommodation could generally be described as basic: we stayed in local "hotels" and village accommodation where some of us slept 4 to a bed and all 28 of us shared the 2 communal sinks (no hot water), one communal shower (although not all together!) and the local "2 hole" public conveniences!! Breakfast was always Spam and fried eggs; however we had a variation at lunchtime - Spam and hard-boiled eggs. And always a chinese meal at night. It'll probably be a long time before any of us want to look at a chinese take-away again.
For all of this we hope to raise at least £19000 between us so please help us reach our goal by donating through this site.Believe me, we earned every penny of it!
Many thanks for your support.
Note; at the present time, Lionheart, which helps members of the RICS and their families who are in difficulties, is not registered with Justgiving hence the reference only to Weston Park on this site. However, the total money raised both on- and offline will be shared between Lionheart and Weston Park
