China report

 

We’ve done it – the walk and we are all back in one piece! No dodgy tummies, no blisters, no injuries just a huge sense of achievement, memories of fantastic camaraderie and a total of over £20,000 for the Bowel disease Research foundation.

So an enormous thank you to all of you who have supported me (£3400 and still rising) and the cause through generous donations, sponsorships of one sort or another, accompanying me on training walks, lending me equipment and generally just keeping me going.

 

A few days before we flew out to China, I heard that my friend, whose bowel cancer had already spread to her liver when she was first diagnosed at the beginning of this year, had been given the ‘all clear’ after two huge operations and six months of chemo. What a high to start the trek on.

 

We arrived at Beijing airport on a warm sunny afternoon full of excitement and a little trepidation. We drove north with the sun setting, making our first glimpse of the Great wall a dramatic silhouette along the ridgeline. Sadly this was the last time we saw the sun until we landed at Heathrow ten days later.

 

Defensive walls were first built, against the Mongols, by Emperor Qin Shi (he of Terracotta warrior fame) after he unified the Chinese states in 220 BC. The last major building period happened in the 14^th century and gave us the wall as we know it today with watchtowers, beacons and passes. It stretches in an arc from the coast close to the Korean peninsula some 3500miles towards Tibet.  The section that we were going to be walking (Simatai to Juyonguang) lies roughly 2 hours north-north west of Beijing and as well as having the greatest density of watchtowers, also includes the heavily fortified, strategically important pass at Juyongguan

 

  We woke to cold grey weather, but enthusiasm was not dampened and after breakfast we (14 trekkers

  age 19-67 plus the British tour manager and doctor and Chinese guide) set off.

 

         

 

We started at Jinshanling, an ancient pass in the hills, so steps took us up onto the wall and our first view of the wall snaking away as far as the eye and the grey light would allow.     

 

 

      Restored wall, with neat black paving stones, regular steps and grey mortar, and Chinese tourists

     quickly gave way to broken battlements and uneven surfaces and solitude.        

 

                                

 

     The wall, predominantly made of rammed earth, mud bricks, stone and cliff apparently survived well until

      the 20^th century when, as well as environmental damage, human damage increased with war, road-

building projects and mass tourism. Although I had visited China in 1988, I was completely taken by

surprise at the number of Chinese tourists at easily accessible points (steps or cable cars). Mao had

written ‘he who doesn’t reach the Great Wall isn’t a true man’.

 

Each day was different with different challenges; we averaged 6 hours/day but only covered a maximum of 10miles/day due to the arduousness of the walking. The first day, a ‘warm-up’:  the second day was off the beaten track walking along very run down section of the wall with vertiginous traverses, made more tricky by the weather closing in.                 

 

Just when we were getting completely fed up, shrouded in thick wet cloud, and in the middle of nowhere, we came around the corner to find a man selling cups of coffee. Quite surreal but heavenly! People (dustbin men, sweepers, souvenir sellers) popping out of seemingly nowhere was a bit of a feature of the trek! The third day involved a testing climb up though terraced mountainside and then an equally steep descent along a narrow river course before climbing back up through thick undergrowth to a prominent watchtower. Day 4, although on ‘good’ wall, involved prolonged climbs (or scrambles if you had shortish legs) up steps that varied from 4inches – 3feet and at times had the added challenge of negotiating hordes of Chinese tourists and even couples having their wedding photos taken. The last morning started in the dark as the aim was to climb up 700m – those steps again – to reach the highest watchtower an hour later to catch the sunrise. We ate our breakfast in thick wet cloud but on a clear day we could have seen Beijing!   

          

 

The main reason for doing this was to raise money for the BDRF, but along the way I have been fortunate to have overcome physical limitations, strengthened existing friendships, made new ones, and been part of something special

 

 

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In October 2010 I will be joining an all women group trekking along the Great Wall of China to raise funds for the Bowel Disease Research Foundation. Like me you have probably never heard of this charity before – it is the charity arm of the Association of Coloproctology of GB and Ireland and raises money for research into bowel cancer (cancer of the colon, rectal cancer, small bowel cancer) and inflammatory bowel disease (Crohns and ulcerative colitis).

 

 

 

Did you know that bowel cancer is the second most common cancer in women after breast cancer, and third for men after prostate and lung?

 

 

 

Approximately 35,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer in the UK each year and as it presents late and the only effective treatment is surgery, half of these people will die.

 

 

 

Inflammatory bowel disease affects mainly young people – it is becoming more common, causes frequent episodes of severe illness, and requires repeated operations and often stomas. Life expectancy is significantly reduced. There is currently no cure.

 

 

 

I was asked by my old friend Asha Senapati, currently president of the association of coloproctology,to join this 5 day trek which will involve walking for 5-7 hours every day along the spectacular but difficult and rugged Great Wall of China. I am supporting this cause as my godfather died of small bowel cancer and professionally as a GP I have looked after people and their families who have these conditions.

 

 

 

I hope you will be able to support me but making a donation however small. Thank you so much.