The cycling tour starts at a village 3 hours outside of Beijing, called something like Forever Young. The route is gentle with no steep hills or heavy traffic. There are nice views of small holdings and the road is tree lined with white and lilac wall flowers. After about 3/4 of the way, the road forks to the right and you can see the wall in the distance. The last climb to Simitai is quite arduous, until the down hill bit passes the reservoir and the Mandarin duck springs. It is said that the water here springs from Wuling Mountain and takes 50 years to find its way. The reservoir was built in 1977.
The Simitai section is the best preserved and most beautiful section of the Ming Dynasty Great Wall. It is also heralded in legends of heroes and folklore. From the distance the zig zagging style strikes a spectacular impression. Up close, the stone steps are tiny and the watch towers are compact dwellings. Many people must have been recruited to build the wall: stone cutters, builders, carpenters and then supplies must have been brought to the guards from the villages below. Climbing to section 14 is along a mountain ridge way of steep slopes. The route is set in a bewildering landscape and the wall only makes sense because you can follow it for miles into the distance. Bricks are branded with Chinese characters and each towers has single archways, or double doorways, windows and ramparts. The photograph is from No 2 East Watch Tower. The route ends before the heavenly staircase and the fairy tower, at which point I retraced my steps and then walked the West section to tower 14 - Jin Shan.
