"To most people, watching daytime telly is one of the clichés of student life - passive, idle and unproductive. Little did I know that one lunchtime spent in the company of Des and Mel would lead me half way round the world with most of Millets upon my back.

By chance I caught an item on the show advertising a charity walk along part of the Great Wall of China. With graduation mere months away and no plans beyond my dissertation, I made the most rash decision of my life and sent off the application form.

The Great Walk of China is raising money for NCH - the Children's Charity who do a great deal of valuable work for underprivileged children and their families. As 92 pence from every pound directly funds their work, I felt this was a worthy cause to give my time and energy to.

So now, six months later and I am standing among rucksacks and sleeping bags and quietly questioning my sanity! Having never done anything remotely like this before, or ever been outside of Europe I have no idea what to expect.

I hope that I am fit enough to keep up with the others (there are eleven in the group altogether) and that we all get on and don't end up trying to push each other off the wall.

I've bought my guide to Beijing, in fact it's not left my side for the last four weeks and I have already planned every minute of my spare time in the capital. Top places to visit include Chairman Mao's mausoleum, the Peking Opera, which I have been told is an 'acquired' taste, and the many karaoke bars.

What I frequently forget though, is that before I get to see any of that, I first have to walk 93km along the wall through desert and ravine territory in temperatures of up to 30ºC. And even before that I must pack my rucksack and perhaps even more importantly, buy some of those fancy blister plasters.

While I am gone, I shall be keeping a diary which I shall post here when I get back. However in the meantime I shall hopefully be sending pictures along my way.

If you would like to sponsor me and make a donation to NCH, please visit https://www.bmycharity.com/V2/leilachina where you can make a secure online payment direct to the charity." Written by Leila Breckman.