Juyong Pass in under 2 hours.
- Before -
Last year (2019) we did our first ever guided tour. We found it advertised on WebJet Exclusive, through a website called Expedition Exclusive. 11 Days Highlight Tour of China, for an insanely cheap price of $799AUD per person for twin share. We thought it was too good to be true. It was flights, accomodation, some tours and breakfast at every hotel. Flights were through Air China - Quite a nice airline, some of the hotels were average and some were very nice.
One of the included tours was a trip to Great Wall of China, at Juyong Pass. This is one of 3 tracks commonly visited by tour companies. Roughly 60km North of Beijing. This was a walk up what felt like a million stairs (1,800 actual stairs) Between the No. 7 Fortress and No. 12 Fortress where you had to turn around.
This was bit of a trek, I was so close to the top and had completely given up - I hate stairs lol. If it wasn't for Michael encouraging me I would have been happy to turn around and start walking back down.
Now that I can say i've been to the top I know I would have been disappointed in myself if I hadn't gone the whole way to the top. So if you find yourself at the same climb we did, don't give up - keep going, it really is worth it and satisfying to have accomplish such a trek.
On the way up to the 12th Fortress it took us 1 hour, with stops are each of the fortresses. The crowds can get quite annoying and frustrating as a lot of people are struggling with the stairs, they just decide to stop in the middle and have a seat. Which isn't ideal when you are in a skinny part of the track, have people climbing up and coming back down.
I suppose one bonus of getting higher up the wall, is the crowed completely thin out and that makes for better photos and an easier climb, not having to dodge people.
