We walked yesterday from Jinshangling to Simitai...about 6 miles taking in 30 watchtowers on a relatively unrestored section of the Great Wall. After taking the cable car up, we were greeted by a group of Chinese well wishers who followed us step by step ('wanna buy tee shirt? wanna buy a watch?') for about the first mile but once we'd shaken them off we had the wall to ourselves. Occasionally clambering up and down 70 degree inclines, the views of the wall were incredible...

Despite the boom of dynamite as the Chinese blow up local hillsides to push a motorway under the mountains, this stretch of the wall is surrounded by relatively untouched hillsides, dazzling autumnal colours and very few people.

Sarah took the easy way down, putting her faith in a zip line that plunged down off the hillside over a reservoir to the waiting boats. Tom meanwhile ambled down the road back to civilisation and the waiting bus back to Beijing.

For photos including plenty more of Beijing go to the flickr site at the top of the page.