China Diary 9: 20/10/03
It's finally happened - despite SARS, ill health and a worried mother, Kathryn Hearn managed to trek for the Meningitis Research Foundation along the Great Wall of China?

Take two nurses, a police officer and a lollipop lady, add a good portion of rain, and bake in some more remote areas of China - and what do you get? A once-in-a-lifetime experience which was both unique, enlightening and funny at the same time.

Our guide Stephen

There were 27 of us - 26 women and one man - who shared the ups and downs of both the physical challenge and the emotional trials.

For five days we trekked along the historic Great Wall, enjoying magnificent scenery and each other's company (and some over helpful locals too!)

Best bit: Reaching the top of the mountain on day three - as high as Scafell Pike after a hard hike up, surrounded by mist - and doing a live radio interview back with colleagues at Three Counties Radio in Luton. Surreal!

Worst bit: Awkwardly swallowing a piece of bread and choking during dinner, only to find all my potential lifesavers engrossed in the video.

Funniest bit: Hailing a taxi after getting lost in Beijing and "talking" to the Chinese speaking driver while he tried to take us to the wrong hotel.

Enduring memory: Miles of green hills, yards of climbing - and the rain steaming up my glasses.

They say that a picture paints a thousand words, so here's a day by day photo diary of the challenge.

Click on the date to see the photos.

We had 30 hours of continuous rain

4/10/03 Discovering Beijing We discover Beijing - including Eat Street, where you can buy scorpions and goat testicles on a stick!

 5/10/03 Mutianyu Section We puff our way up to our first taste of the Great Wall - then have a steep incline up the Heavenly Stairway - 462 steps at 75 degrees!

6/10/03 Black Dragon Pools There's some upwards movement needed to reach 1,800m at the number one waterfall for Beijing.

7/10/03 Wuzoulou Mountain This was the hardest trek - starting with finding a lost man from Crawley and ending at a watch tower cloaked in mist. More photos to follow.

8/10/03 Gubeiko Gateway The first surprise for us all was our local "helper" who attached themselves to us in the hope we would pay them for their help at the end of the day - and then it started raining!

On the wall with my BBC Three Counties Radio t-shirt

9/10/03 Simitai It was still misty and raining and, as our guide Stephen pointed out, parts of the trek were "bloody dangerous"!

10/10/03 Beijing Time for the touristy stuff: The Forbidden Palace, experience a tea ceremony, and then eat duck!

11/10/03 Beijing We burn incense at the Lama Temple with a record-breaking Buddha, visit a pearl factory and sample the Summer Palace in the rain.

12/10/03 Beijing Rickshaws R Us as we travel through the Hutongs and dine with a local family.

Find out more here about how much I've raised so far.

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